The collapse of the latest UN plastic treaty negotiations once again laid bare a fault line in global environmental diplomacy: the clash between countries pushing for plastic production cuts and those defending fossil fuel-linked industries. "At one end of the spectrum are the small island states, which are confronted with immense plastic pollution on their coasts and in their seas without contributing significantly to the pollution themselves," said Jochen Flasbarth, Germany's state secretary for the environment. At the other end, he added, are "those countries whose economies are dominated by oil or the raw materials for plastic." Plastic pollution in the seaPlastic pollution in the sea Plastic pollution is having devastating impacts on ecosystems, the climate and human healthImage: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images While the failure to reach an agreement was widely anticipated, the sixth round of talks in Geneva revealed how entrenched interests , particularly from oil-producing states and major plastic manufacturers, continue to shape the trajectory of global efforts to curb plastic pollution. "It is deeply disappointing to see some countries that are trying to block an agreement, a treaty that will give us the instruments needed to tackle plastic pollution, one of the biggest pollution problems we have on Earth," Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke told DW early Friday morning after more than 180 nations failed to reach a deal. No agreement on cutting plastic production Negotiations on a binding UN treaty began in 2022. After three years of talks, securing a decisive commitment to reduce plastic production remained the central sticking point in Geneva. Roughly 100 nations, including in Africa, Latin America, and the European Union, pushed for deep production cuts, regulation of toxic chemicals and a phase-out of single-use plastics in favor of reusable alternatives. 9 images 1 | 99 images But major producers and oil states in the "like-minded" group, including Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, resisted any binding limits. They favored focusing on waste management, leaving production largely untouched. A revised draft presented Friday morning recognized that current plastic output levels are "unsustainable" and require global action to reverse the trend but stopped short of imposing binding limits. Such limits were a red line for many countries in the like-minded bloc. Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti negotiators criticized the final proposal for addressing plastic production, which they consider outside the scope of the treaty. Yet scientists have warned that capping production is essential to curb pollution and protect water, soil, oceans and human health. Marine scientist Melanie Bergmann of the Alfred Wegener Institute argues the world has already exceeded its planetary limits for plastic waste. How these companies tried to greenwash their plastic waste