Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Publication
William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review
Volume
49
Abbreviation
Wm. & Mary Env't L. & Pol'y Rev.
First Page
555
Abstract
This Article analyzes two major international environmental negotiations that concluded in late 2024 and uses them to explore emerging directions in plastics policy, carbon markets, and experimental forms of environmental governance. It examines the redesign of global carbon offset markets following the adoption of Article 6 mechanisms at COP 29, highlighting how new international standards and domestic U.S. initiatives seek to address longstanding concerns about offset quality while insulating climate policy from drastic federal political swings. The Article then evaluates the failed Busan negotiations toward a global plastics treaty, explaining how disagreements over production caps, consensus procedures, and the complexity of upstream, midstream, and downstream solutions stalled progress despite broad alignment on waste-management reforms. Finally, it considers the relationship between plastics reduction and greenhouse gas mitigation, critiquing the rise of “plastic credits” while suggesting that upstream shifts from petrochemical plastics to alternative materials should qualify for carbon-offset crediting. Across these developments, the Article argues that decentralized and market-based governance experiments—extended producer responsibility programs, carbon markets, and selective crediting systems—may offer important tools to advance environmental protection amid volatile national politics and accelerating global waste and climate crises.