Excellencies,
Co-Chairs of the High Ambition Coalition,
First of all, I would like to thank you for the excellent collaboration and for your leadership in working towards an effective treaty that will allow us to end plastic pollution by 2040.
The High Ambition Coalition plays a key role in advocating for a treaty with a clear goal and triggering the required actions to achieve it.
An effective treaty would contribute substantively to reducing pollution and to protecting the climate.
Obligations and control measures will constitute the heart of the treaty.
This must be the primary focus of our work going forward.
A core element will be measures reducing virgin plastic production, making an important contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Moreover, secondary plastic needs to become competitive on the market: this is a prerequisite for re-use schemes to be actively promoted by the private sector.
The HAC Member States must take clear positions and undertake pro-active outreach to move forward with the treaty text.
We are also ready to follow the polluter pays principle and to establish how Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) may be supported to enable them to implement their obligations.
We need concrete action, but also coordinated work among the different international actors:
Switzerland attaches particular importance to environmental issues. Geneva hosts the secretariats of several environmental conventions and international organisations.
As a global centre for chemical and waste governance, Geneva is the hub for international governance on pollution.
Switzerland is looking forward to our ongoing collaboration and the work of this Coalition, including its various Working Groups.
Thank you.