Functions of Side Events in Environmental Negotiations: a Case Study of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution

In response to global environmental problems, the international community has negotiated a wide range of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). In studying these MEAs, researchers have predominantly focused on the formal interactions occurring in negotiation rooms. As a consequence, our understanding of informal interactions at these meetings is still limited, in spite of a strong increase in the number of side events, a form of informal interaction, and their participants. In a recent review of the scant literature on these informal interactions, we identified 26 possible functions of side events at MEA meetings. The large majority of the reviewed publications, however, concerned studies of Convention of the Parties (CoP) meetings in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. To extend this limited empirical basis and further develop our understanding of the functions of side events at MEA meetings, we conducted a case study of the ongoing negotiations of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on plastic pollution, with the aim to reach a MEA. Contrary to previous studies on climate or biodiversity negotiations, this case study focuses on plastic negotiations and covers multiple meetings in the pre-MEA phase. Ethnographic data were collected through participant observation at four sessions of the INC negotiations (INC3, 4, 5.1, and 5.2), between November 2023 and August 2025. The dataset consists of fieldnotes and daily reports, including photos and sketches. Side events may influence both negotiation outcomes, and stakeholders’ actions at and beyond the boundaries of negotiations. Their formats and timing are influential in the functions they may nurture, just like the active role of participants partly determines the extent to which functions are manifested, and while expected and actual outcome may align, they may also differ. However, organisers' and speakers' eyes are still largely targeting national delegates. Yet, our results call for a perspective shift: from focusing only on formal negotiations, to embracing a broader vision that recognises other functions and their potential to generate impact beyond the negotiations’ physical and temporal boundaries.