The 5th UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) was held online and in Nairobi from 28 February to 2 March 2022. The assembly concluded with 14 resolutions to strengthen actions for nature to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Mr Moustapha Kamal Gueye, Global Coordinator of the ILO Green Jobs Programme, attended the meeting and made a statement on behalf of the International Labour Office (ILO).

“The International Labour Office welcomes the initiative towards an international agreement on plastic pollution”, said Mr Moustapha Kamal Gueye, “It is indispensable and urgent to transform the ‘take-make-waste’ of plastics economy into a circular economy, based on a thorough and full-life-cycle approach. This will not only reduce the environmental damage but also open up new opportunities for decent work.”

One of the historic outcomes of the UNEA-5.2 is the endorsement of a resolution to end plastic pollution and forge an international legally binding agreement by 2024. The resolution calls for sustainable production and consumption of plastics, including product design, and environmentally sound waste management, including through resource efficiency and circular economy approaches. The adoption of the resolution represents a major step forward on the path towards circular economies and is closely linked to the work of the ILO, which estimates that a shift to carbon-neutral and circular economies could generate an additional 100 million jobs by 2030 .

Plastics have many implications for the world of work. Millions of women and men work in the plastics industry, through its entire value chain from production to transformation, collection, and recycling. While the industry offers benefits including job creation, the current model of plastics production has many drawbacks. Plastics production involves dealing with chemicals that can affect workers’ health and safety. Furthermore, in many countries the disposal of plastic waste is still largely part of the informal economy. Those informal workers, whose significant contribution to the collecting, sorting, and recycling of plastics is recognized by the resolution, face serious decent work deficits such as work-related safety and health hazards, discrimination, violence and harassment, low income, and inadequate social protection. Addressing these gaps will greatly enhance opportunities for decent work.

With its climate actions focused on social dimension, the ILO is promoting a human centred approach to addressing environmental and social issues. It believes that a “just transition” is essential in leading the way towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies, and to this end, its constituents – governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations – have an important role to play in supporting a just transition through social dialogue.

The ILO’s Guidelines for a just transition provides a policy framework and guiding principles for governments and social partners to formulate, implement and monitor their policies and actions in such transition. Labour policies on employment, skills and enterprise development, formalization of work, occupational safety and health, social inclusion, cooperatives, and the social and solidarity economy are some of the main policy areas that need to be considered to transform the plastics industry.

Several International Labour Standards can also provide building blocks in the journey towards a global agreement on plastics, such as the Chemicals Convention, 1990 (No. 170) and the Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117).

Many other resolutions adopted at the UNEA-5.2 are of relevance to the ILO and require international cooperation and coordination. In his address, Mr Moustapha Kamal Gueye committed: "the ILO is pleased to continue to work with UNEP and other international organizations in a multilateral system towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all.”

Watch the recording of the event and listen to the ILO statement: