INF/TE/IDP/RD/30* 
7 April 2022  
(22-2834) Page: 1/2 
 Original:  English, anglais, inglés  
 
  
UNOFFICIAL ROOM DOCUMENT1 
 
STATEMENT BY THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIROMENTAL LAW (CIEL)  
IDP MEETING – 30 MARCH 2022  
 
 
 
 
DOCUMENT DE S ÉANCE NON OFFICIEL1 
 
STATEMENT BY THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIROMENTAL LAW (CIEL)  
IDP MEETING – 30 MARCH 2022  
 
 
 
DOCUMENTO DE SALA NO OF ICIAL1 
 
STATEMENT BY THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIROMENTAL LAW (CIEL)  
IDP MEETING – 30 MARCH 2022  
 
_______________  
  
 
* In Original language only/En langue originale seulement/En el idioma original solamente.  
1 Documents issued in the RD series are not official WTO documents. They usually appear in their 
language of submission and will not be translated systematically into the working languages of the WTO. They 
are intended for use in WTO meeting rooms and are a ttributed an unofficial symbol for archiving purposes only.  
Les documents de la série RD ne sont pas des documents officiels de l 'OMC. Ils ne paraissent 
généralement que dans la langue dans laquelle ils ont été communiqués et ne seront pas systématiquemen t 
traduits dans les langues de travail de l'OMC. Ils sont destinés aux salles de réunion de l'OMC et une cote non 
officielle leur est attribuée à des fins d'archivage.  
Los documentos de la serie RD no son documentos oficiales de la OMC. Por lo general se distribuyen en 
el idioma en que han sido presentados y no se traduce n sistemáticamente a los idiomas de trabajo de la 
Organización. Se distribuyen para su uso en las salas de reunión de la OMC y se les asigna una signatura no 
oficial a efectos d e archivo únicamente.  INF/TE/IDP/RD/ 30 
 
- 2 - 
 
  WTO Informal Dialogue on Plastics  
 
CIEL 's Written Statement  
ITEM 4.  
 
30th of March 2022  
 
Your excellencies,  
Ladies and gentlemen,  
Distinguished members of the WTO,  
 
Thank you for the invitation to this very important session.  
 
My name is Andrés Del Castillo, Senior Attorney for the Environmental Health Program at the Center 
for International Environmental Law (CIEL).  
 
On February 28th, the UNEP Executive Director confirmed that the United Nations Environment 
Assembly (UNEA) Reso lution titled End Plastic Pollution: Towards an International Legally Binding 
Instrument, "adopts a full life -cycle approach, stretching from extraction to production to waste. "2 
As reflected in the text, the future instrument should aim to promote sustai nable production and 
consumption. One of the ways to achieve this is by reducing virgin plastic production and 
consumption.  
 
According to the International Energy Agency, plastics are set to drive nearly half of oil demand 
growth by midcentury.3 Having sa id this, it is crucial to expose the link with harmful subsidies that 
help build and expand petrochemical facilities. It has also been documented that a big portion of 
recovery funds committed to energy in G20 countries are going towards fossil fuels.4 
 
As the 2020 report from Nordic Council of Ministers highlighted "the trade impacts of fossil fuel 
subsidies are not only felt in fossil fuel markets but also in the markets for energy -intensive products 
that rely on fossil fuel products as an important inpu t, such as fertilizers and plastics. (...)Fuel 
subsidies can affect underlying market conditions that can block the emergence and dissemination 
of alternative, potentially non -like products and services. "5  
 
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is one of th e only international organizations with binding rules 
to regulate subsidies, at least for those with trade implications, and an analysis on plastic will be 
more than pertinent to contribute to the UNEA process without prejudging its outcomes. We call on 
the IDP, in collaboration with inhouse initiatives, to examine this aspect, preferably in the format of 
a report related to the transparency workstream, which is an important element for the phase -out 
of fossil fuel subsidies.  
 
We look forward to working wi th you in the future.  
Please accept, Excellencies and colleagues, the assurances of our highest consideration.  
 
 
Andrés Del Castillo  
Senior Attorney,  
Center for International Environmental Law  
adelcastillo@ ciel.org   
 
 
__________  
 
 2 Speech on 28 February 2022 by Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, during the  
United Nations Environment Assembly. https://www.unep.org/news -and-stories/speech/safeguarding -
sustainable -development -fifth-un-environment -assembly . 
 3 The Future of Petrochemicals, October 2018, https://www.iea.org/reports/the -future -of-petrochemicals . 
 4 Energy Policy Tracker https://www.energypolicytracker.org/region/g20/ . 
 5 Toward trade rules that support fossil fuel subsidy re form and the clean energy transition,  P.17, 
https://pub.norden.org/temanord2020 -539/temanord2020 -539.pdf .