The negotiations resumed this morning after a day off yesterday, where delegations were encouraged to self-organize into informal informals on key topics of divergence.  Yesterday, informal informals were held on Article 3 (Plastics Products) and Article 11 (Financing Mechanism), though certain regions chose to not engage. Spirits were high as we headed into the day, though that did not last. Countries continued to maintain their long-standing positions, and tensions are starting to show among the negotiators.  Tomorrow may become a deciding moment in the negotiations. Governments have little time to come together on key areas of divergence, including Article 3 (Plastic Products), Article 5 (Design), Article 6 (Supply), and Article 11 (Financing Mechanism).

Key insights

• In Contact Group 1, updates on the status of work were provided by co-facilitators leading Articles 3 and 5. This was followed by a discussion on the way forward including resuming informals on Article 6 and starting informal informal discussions on Scope as requested by some members. There was no agreement on the way forward after two hours of deliberations due to divergent views on how to proceed. Members eventually agreed to stop discussions and reconvene tomorrow. 
• Contact Group 2 met in the afternoon and co-facilitators of Articles 7 (Releases and Leakages), 8 (Plastic Waste Management), 9 (Existing Plastic Pollution) and 10 (Just Transition) provided updates from the informals and informal informals that took place on Friday-Sunday. Some progress has been made in advancing discussions on areas of convergence and identifying areas of divergence that need further work. Co-facilitators of the informal groups requested more time for informal session to make further progress.
• Contact Group 3 met twice on Monday, its first session had a slow start due to procedural concerns regarding the details of a report from a prior informal meeting.  This issue was set aside for the time, and countries negotiated on new proposed text on Article 12 (Capacity Building) put forward by Brazil.
  
  In its second session, two significant issues presented themselves immediately. First, the EU held out from participating and asked the Contact Group to be adjourned until concurrent issues in CG1 were resolved (see above); they eventually were. Second, and just as significantly a divide between Donor countries who wanted to engage on the text as drafted, and statements from “all developing countries”,  which urged the co-chairs to send their text from the day prior directly to the INC Chair, and to disregard the outputs from the last few rounds of informal negotiation. Co-chairs will consult with the INC Chair tomorrow to determine a path forward.
• Contact Group 4 had a brief session and concluded quickly to give time for informal and informal informal sessions.