This article examines the emergence of a hybrid institutional complex (HIC) in global plastics governance. By interrogating the structure, features, and contradictions of hybrid global plastics governance, we foreground the de facto orchestrator role of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) that promotes multistakeholder partnerships to redress plastic pollution and to realise SDG 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production. However, we contend that embedding voluntary, industry-led multistakeholder initiatives within and through the contested UN Global Plastics Treaty process risks entrenching corporate-friendly governance arrangements at the expense of more stringent governance and systemic transformation. We show how this governance model legitimises weak regulations, promotes voluntary governance that reinforces market norms, and sustains corporate dominance. We thus highlight tensions between procedural mechanisms and substantive sustainability objectives within global plastics governance. Ultimately, we contend that emerging hybrid plastic governance may reinforce, rather than transform, the unsustainable status quo.
Photo by Stijn Dijkstra