Biden Urged to Examine Oil, Gas Influence in Plastics Talks
The Biden administration is coming under pressure from congressional Democrats to ramp up scrutiny of the petrochemical industry’s lobbying at global environmental conferences.
“Deep inequities in power and access play out in these negotiations,” favoring chemical and fossil fuel representatives over smaller member states vulnerable to climate change and could “obstruct meaningful progress,” a group of lawmakers wrote to President Joe Biden and UN officials in an April 16 letter.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Interior-Environment appropriations subcommittee Chairman Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Foreign Relations Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) were among those who sent the letter, shared exclusively with Bloomberg Government.
Their call for greater transparency and accountability comes in advance of the UN’s fourth international session April 23-29 in Ottawa on how the world reduces, recycles, and safely disposes of plastic waste.
The Biden administration, led by the State Department, faces a balancing act among the plastics industry, environmental advocacy groups, and progressive Democrats, on how to reduce plastic waste while also recognizing the dependence the economy and consumers have on plastic.
`Robust Accountability’
The congressional Democrats, along with European Parliament member Mohammed Chahim, would like industries to submit an “audited corporate political influencing statement that discloses plastics and climate-related lobbying, campaign contributions, and funding of trade associations and organizations active on plastics and climate issues.”
The International Negotiating Committee should also “consider additional measures to establish a robust accountability framework to protect against undue influence of corporate actors with proven vested interests that contradict the goals of the global plastics treaty,” they wrote.
“While we acknowledge that engaging with industry can play a role, doing so with industry stakeholders that have consistently engaged in bad faith should be undertaken with extreme caution,” the lawmakers wrote.
Non-governmental organizations and environmental advocates also have a strong presence at climate global conferences, as the list of participants from the previous meeting on plastics in November shows.
Progressive Democrats also want the US to adopt a strong global agreement on plastic waste that significantly reduces plastic production because not all plastics are recyclable.
“If the new agreement doesn’t adequately address plastic production, particularly the production of single-use and non-durable plastics, no amount of cleanup will protect our environment and health from this crisis,” the letter stated.
By: Kellie Lunney
Source: Bloomberg Government
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