Fears for plastic treaty talks as Norway reviews UN project funding

Move by largest donor to environment programme poses further uncertainty for already troubled negotiations The largest donor to the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) is reviewing its funding to the body before its revised budget on 12 May, triggering concern among member states and NGOs. The news could carry significance for the already troubled plastic treaty negotiations being overseen by Unep. Since 2022 countries have been struggling to agree on how to deal with the volume of plastics being produced and used, a subject widely acknowledged to be one of the most serious environmental issues of the age, but despite six rounds of talks there has been no agreement in sight. Unep’s executive director, Inger Andersen, met the director general of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) the week before last and was told that “all [funding] agreements are on hold” pending budget decisions, according to sources. Norway has been the largest overall donor to Unep in recent years, contributing approximately $12m (£9m) annually to the Unep’s environment fund over the three years to 2025. Norway also contributed $18.6m from 2022-2025 to the Planetary Fund and another