Greenpeace and a group of 85 countries have called for binding global targets to reduce plastic production, after talks in Busan, South Korea, attempting to secure agreement between more than 200 countries on the details of a plastic pollution treaty ended in failure over the weekend.

The Guardian reported that Graham Forbes, the lead delegate for Greenpeace at the talks, said on December 2: “We stand at a historic crossroads. The opportunity to secure an impactful plastics treaty that protects our health, biodiversity and climate remains within reach.”

The week-long talks, known as INC-5, were supposed to be the last before the first treaty to cut plastic pollution was signed. But the meeting ended in the early hours of December 2 in a deadlock over objections to the inclusion of cuts to plastic production in so-called ambition countries.

More than 100 countries supported a draft text that included legally binding global reductions in plastic production, and the phasing out of certain chemicals and single-use plastic products.

But the resistance to production reductions by countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia, led negotiators to concede defeat. They acknowledged they had failed to bridge serious divisions over the aims of the treaty.

Now, 85 countries and political blocs including the U.K., the EU, Spain, Germany, Mexico and Greece signed a declaration committing to stand up for ambition in the treaty, calling for binding provisions for a global target to reduce the production of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels.