- At the start of 2026, the world’s efforts to negotiate a global plastics pollution treaty remained deadlocked. Then in February, Julio Cordano was appointed the new chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC) with the hope he can help move the treaty process forward decisively.
- Cordano rarely gives media interviews, but he responded to some of Mongabay’s written questions on how he plans to forge ahead toward an international plastics pollution agreement.
- Cordano continues to fully back the UN treaty negotiations process, which requires any final accord be achieved by consensus between all the national parties. He declined to comment on other possible routes to an agreement that break from the traditional negotiating protocol.
- Observers of the treaty process also weighed in for this story, offering a range of views from hope to skepticism that consensus can get producing nations to mutually agree to major plastic production limits.
You can’t dictate a solution to the worldwide plastic pollution crisis, according to Julio Cordano, the new chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) for a global plastic treaty. He said consensus will be needed.
Cordano was elected INC chair in February 2026. That appointment came after INC repeatedly failed to meet its own deadlines for achieving an agreement to deal with the world’s rapidly escalating plastic pollution crisis.
INC began treaty negotiations in 2022 with the goal of achieving an agreement by 2024. But negotiators remain deadlocked and nowhere near an accord. That puts Cordano — a career Chilean diplomat and director of the Environment, Climate Change and Oceans Division of Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs — in a difficult position.
Today, 184 nations, known as the parties, can’t even agree on whether a treaty should include binding limits on plastic production (a stance held by the roughly 70 High Ambition Coalition member nations), or focus only on voluntary plastic waste management, reuse and recycling (a position held by the Like Minded Group of a handful of petrostates). Talks continue this year, but INC doesn’t expect another formal negotiating session until March 2027 at the earliest.
With Cordano in the challenging position of finding common ground between the parties, Mongabay reached out for an exclusive interview to determine his hopes and concerns for the treaty process. He doesn’t often speak to the press and declined a Mongabay interview request, but agreed to answer questions submitted in writing.
Cordano’s diplomatic career dates back to 1996. He has served in past key posts, including as Chile’s lead negotiator to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties and as negotiator for the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Mongabay’s questions and his answers follow, lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Mongabay: As newly appointed chair for the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, you’ve taken on a daunting but critically important mission to bridge competing agendas and bring the parties together to find agreement on an effective global plastics treaty. What makes you the right person for the job?
Julio Cordano: The treaty on plastic pollution is an instrument for international cooperation, where everyone needs to contribute and participate. As chair, it is my intention to help [national] delegations engage with each other and hopefully find common ground.
I have been in many UN negotiation processes similar to this, and hope I can bring the best of my abilities to achieve these goals, bearing in mind that ultimately, this is a member-led process and it is the members of the committee — the governments — that are in the driver’s seat.
Mongabay: Since becoming chair in February, what are you telling the nations that didn’t vote for your selection as to how you will address their concerns?
Julio Cordano: I think the [INC] committee is very much united, and I have not felt any difference across the membership. I think we all understand that we have a mandate and a task to deliver, and this creates a common sense of purpose.
At the same time, I have had the chance to speak to all UN regions and to hear the concerns of everyone. I see that there are very legitimate aspirations and concerns, and it is my goal to try to see how we can accommodate those visions. This will require a good dose of pragmatism and flexibility, [and] I expressed this at the very moment of my election.
Mongabay: I know it’s a difficult question, but how do you plan to break the impasse between the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) and the Like-Minded Group (LMG) of plastic producer nations? And what kind of intersessional work are you encouraging to move HAC and LMG closer to a compromise?
Julio Cordano: All countries will need to move closer to one another. My approach as chair is to listen to everyone and generate the spaces to have productive and fruitful discussions, aiming at mutual understanding.
I have put a particular emphasis on the principles of transparency, inclusivity and predictability. My feeling is that if we have a process that is clear, and follows a laid out roadmap, this can generate a good momentum for bridging proposals.
Mongabay: Some people say the UN negotiating process is broken and can’t go ahead until the roadblock posed by the treaty consensus requirement is removed. Do you think a viable treaty can be approved by consensus, or might rules have to change, allowing a majority vote?
Julio Cordano: I think everyone would agree that we must continue exerting all our efforts for an ambitious outcome based on consensus.
Mongabay: What elements should a final treaty include? Should it be binding? Should it incorporate production limits or just focus on downstream recycling and reuse, or something else? And should certain chemicals be restricted or banned?
Julio Cordano: Resolution 5/14 of the United Nations Environment Assembly, which originated this process, indicates clearly that the treaty can contain both voluntary and binding provisions. The elements that are included in the previous draft texts give an indication of the range of issues members are considering. Regarding specific issues, these are matters that members need to solve.
Mongabay: The world is already polluted by large amounts of plastic waste. What financing mechanisms should be considered to pay for cleanups? And because so much plastic is made in the Global North, with much waste disposed of in the Global South, do wealthy producer nations have an obligation to help pay for cleanup in poorer nations?
Julio Cordano: This is another important discussion that takes place in the context of the [INC] committee. Existing plastic pollution is a challenge that is often presented as one of the clearest signs of the urgency of finishing this process … [But] there are challenges that [include] the magnitude and concentrations of the pollution, types of plastics that are leaked into the environment, as well as what [mitigation] options are available. This will require a dedicated discussion on the means of implementation.
Mongabay: What is your timeline for future meetings, and when do you hope to see an agreement?
Julio Cordano: In my second letter addressed to the committee, I proposed a roadmap that includes both informal virtual and in-person meetings. One of the in-person meetings will take place in Nairobi from 30 June to 3 July [2026] with heads of delegation to the committee.
This will be combined with a series of virtual consultations and exchanges with members that are already underway. I also intend to have a direct dialogue with observer organizations, to make sure we share information and benefit from their proposals and experience, recognizing their valuable contributions.
Unanswered questions; moving forward
Cordano did not respond to Mongabay’s written questions dealing with specific enforcement mechanisms, whether some plastic pollution issues could be dealt with outside a treaty (such as through the existing Basel Convention on Hazardous Waste), or if a “coalition of the willing” could sanction or refuse to accept plastic waste from uncooperative nations.
He also declined to address whether he would support a “start & strengthen” negotiation process with the initial treaty including only the easiest elements where consensus can be found (perhaps concerning reuse or waste transport), leaving open the possibility of adding more contentious elements to the accord (such as plastic production limits) at a later date.
Since being appointed, Cordano has sent several letters to party delegations spurring them on.
The first dealt with “the basic principles that … should inspire our work, with a special emphasis on transparency, inclusivity and predictability.” A second centered on approaches and activities needed before the next, yet to be scheduled, major negotiating session, to be known as INC-5.4.
In a third letter, Cordano wrote that, “We are indeed in the final stage of the INC negotiations, and … we must act with a sense of urgency to complete our work without rushing in the preparation of the final instrument.”
A world divided
With so many points of disagreement existing between the parties, INC treaty observers also hold widely diverging views on the future treaty and Cordano’s appointment.
Graham Forbes, global plastic campaign lead for Greenpeace USA, said the world has seen seismic geopolitical shifts since negotiations began in 2022. Most recently, the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran sent shockwaves through economies that depend on fossil fuels and plastic products, especially in Southeast Asia. “The global unrest caused by the war in Iran really underscores how a global economy that depends on plastics and fossil fuels is unsustainable and tenuous for countries around the world,” he said.
Forbes also addressed the treaty deadlock: “One thing that’s clear is that we can’t keep doing the same thing and get different results. We know from experience that a consensus-based process doesn’t get results.” As to Cordano’s role, he added, “His job is to develop a process that is going to result in a meaningful agreement.”
However, “How the process unfolds is a bit of a wait and see game,” said Nick Mallos, the Ocean Conservancy’s vice president of ending ocean plastics. “Maybe the [war in Iran] will persuade nations straddling the fence” that they need to move their economies away from fossil fuels and petrochemicals.
Holly Kaufman, director of the Plastics & Climate Project, sees grounds for optimism. “Cordano is doing a very good job in a very difficult situation,” she said. “It’s night and day compared to the situation before he came on board … He is trying his best to consult with parties and trying to have inclusiveness and transparency … That being said, the fundamentals have not changed and are beyond the scope of what any chair can contend with [on his own].”
A statement provided to Mongabay by Break Free from Plastic, an NGO, noted that “the election of a new chair has breathed some life into the negotiations, but it will not, on its own, substantially change much.” While praising Cordano for consulting with stakeholders holding different positions, the NGO wrote that it is worrying that “substantial negotiations and decisions are being made without any mechanism for observers to participate … With observer participation limited, we are extremely concerned any resulting treaty text will be a significant compromise that does not effectively address the [plastic pollution] issue.”
There is one thing Cordano, the parties and observers do agree on: With every passing year the world fails to act, another year of unlimited plastic dumping occurs. The UN Environment Programme, which is running the negotiations, warns that annually “19-23 million tonnes of plastic waste leaks into aquatic ecosystems, polluting lakes, rivers and seas.”
Banner image: INC Vice Chair Johanna Lissinger-Peitz, Sweden, passes the gavel to new INC Chair Julio Cordano, Chile, in February 2026.
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Cite this article
Charles Pekow (2026). With plastic treaty in limbo, Mongabay speaks to top negotiator Julio Cordano. Mongabay Conservation news. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321458Credits
