Towards a global plastics treaty: emerging questions of human rights and global ethics in the Net Zero transition
Ahead of the final round of negotiations in Busan on an international legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, what are the key human rights issues of the plastics crisis? This lecture will review questions of human rights and global ethics including around pollution, health, affected populations and the polluter pays principle emerging in the negotiations. These questions tie in to a wider set of issues associated with the accelerating Net Zero pivot, for example the shift away from fossil fuels to minerals-intensive clean energy, climate finance, and the evolving concept of a just transition. Taken together, they may, it is suggested, impact the direction of human rights itself in the coming decades.
Joshua Lincoln (PhD) is currently a Senior Fellow with the Center for International Law and Governance (CILG) at the Fletcher School of global affairs, Tufts University, where he focuses on global governance, sustainability and the Net Zero transition. Drawing on 25 years of experience across four continents, he is an advisor to heads of government and organizations, sits on the board of directors of the Global Governance Forum and the advisory board of the Cambrian Futures Group, and is a member of the New Carbon Economy Consortium.