ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Pollution
This article is part of the Research TopicStrategies for Remediating Marine and Coastal Pollution towards a Sustainable DevelopmentView all 3 articles
The Application of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) in the Global Governance of Marine Plastic Pollution: A Study in the Context of the Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations
Provisionally accepted
Shumei Yue1
Changdeng Xu2*- 1Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China
- 2Southwest University of Political Science & Law, Chongqing, China
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Marine plastic pollution is a problem that crosses borders and needs immediate global cooperation. This kind of cooperation needs to be based on a single international framework that fairly and authoritatively divides up responsibilities while still respecting national sovereignty.The Fifth United Nations Environment Assembly launched an intergovernmental negotiating committee to achieve a legally binding "Global Plastics Treaty" by 2024, yet the agreement remains elusive by the fifth session in 2025. Disputes persist over plastic source control, financing mechanisms, and raw material regulation. This paper applies the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) to global marine plastic governance. Firstly, it clarifies the doctrinal foundations of CBDR and demonstrates its relevance for global governance of marine plastic pollution. Then, it analyses controversies and practices across national, regional, and multilateral levels, situating CBDR within ongoing treaty negotiations. The study further identifies challenges in applying CBDR, including instrumentalisation, contradictions in differentiation, outdated categories, interpretive conflicts, and deadlock over means of implementation. Building on this analysis, the paper advances policy strategies to operationalise CBDR. These include reforming procedural rules, constructing a dynamic and tiered responsibility system, designing a "core and flexible" obligations framework, and establishing multidimensional support and oversight. In summary, these measures can illustrate the potential for CBDR to move beyond its divisive role and serve as a more nuanced governance tool for reconciling diverse national interests and capacities. Such an approach could contribute to laying the groundwork for an effective and universal plastics treaty by enabling a fairer allocation of responsibilities.
Keywords: Common but differentiated responsibilities, the application of CBDR, marine plastic pollution governance, Global Plastic Treaty, global governance
Received: 17 Sep 2025; Accepted: 27 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yue and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Changdeng Xu
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