As the World Conference on Tobacco Control (WCTC) opened in Dublin on Monday, the world’s largest convening of tobacco control advocates, researchers, and policy strategists is positioned to play an influential role in shaping the technical and civil society contributions that will feed into a series of important multilateral processes taking place this year. 

Between June and November 2025, four major global negotiations are scheduled. The first is the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville. Tobacco taxes are a proven but underutilized financing tool. A 10% price increase typically reduces consumption by 4–5%, while generating substantial domestic revenue. 

Tobacco taxation has long been recognized in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and the final draft of the Compromiso de Sevilla ahead of  FfD4 proposes elevating tobacco taxes as a non-distortionary tax source. While this marks a significant step forward in fiscal framing, it remains to be seen whether this language will be retained, strengthened, or weakened in the final adopted outcome.

Toxic pollution

The second process is the Resumed Fifth Session of the UN Plastics Treaty negotiations (INC-5.2) in Geneva. Cigarette butts, the most littered single-use plastic item on earth, will inevitably be addressed as part of the plastics crisis.

Cigarette filters have long been marketed as a “harm reduction” feature despite being linked to increased risk of adenocarcinoma, a more aggressive lung cancer. In addition, filter microfibers are hard to control as they are very small and fall out.

Conservative estimates put the cost of tobacco plastics at  $26 billion annually. The World Health Organization (WHO), along with the Netherlands and Belgium, has called for banning cigarette filters. 

Meanwhile, Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom are banning disposable vapes, joining over 40 countries with some form of ban. 

INC-5.2 will be a test of whether the COP10 decision of the WHO FCTC will be recognized—especially its call to protect environmental policy from tobacco industry interference and to reject Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes used as a disguise for corporate social responsibility, which the FCTC seeks to ban.

The third process is the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, which will convene in New York in September. Tobacco and nicotine addiction are increasingly linked to anxiety, depression, and mental health struggles among youth. The Political Declaration’s zero draft includes tobacco taxes, offering an opportunity to integrate prevention, financing, and accountability into mental health responses.

The fourth global negotiation involves the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). COP11 will consider liability under Article 19 and forward-looking measures under Article 2.1—key to ensuring the tobacco industry is held responsible for health harms, plastic pollution, and youth-targeted marketing of addictive products.

Environmental impact

Several of the WCTC sessions directly intersect with these negotiations. These include a focused discussion on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and the environmental impact of tobacco product waste—an issue closely aligned with the plastics treaty talks in August. 

Other sessions examine tobacco endgames and  industry liability which are relevant to COP11 when it decides on matters relating to liability (Art 19) and forward-looking measures (Art 2.1). Civil society coalitions such as the NCD Alliance are also engaged in preparatory discussions for the September UN General Assembly meeting on mental health and noncommunicable diseases. Additional sessions on tobacco taxation and development financing contribute to dialogues ahead of FfD4.

Refreshing focus on youth

The 2025 WCTC agenda reflects a notable shift. While previous conferences centered primarily on cessation strategies and clinical research, this year’s program places greater emphasis on targeting of youth/ youth involvement (eight sessions and over 70 presentations) and industry interference (six sessions and 33 presentations) – comparable to cessation (seven sessions and over 70 presentations).

The increased presence of youth advocates also highlights the growing involvement of young people – exemplified by the global movement Global Youth Voices (GYV) that call for bans on addictive recreational products and compensation for tobacco harms. 

Increased youth participation also reflects the rising concern over the marketing of flavored and disposable tobacco and nicotine products, and the persistent regulatory gaps that allow these products to remain on the market.

Higher taxes, ban on cigarette filters?

WCTC follows the recent World Health Assembly resolution titled “Promoting and Prioritizing an Integrated Approach to Lung Health,” which underscored the need to integrate tobacco control into public health systems. 

Given that tobacco use is the leading cause of lung vulnerability—and increases susceptibility to respiratory pandemics—it should be treated as a key element of pandemic preparedness, a priority reinforced by the pandemic agreement adopted at the same Assembly.

This makes tobacco control a timely topic and WCTC a timely venue—not only for technical exchange, but for convening advocates to build consensus on matters that can inform formal negotiations. 

Outcomes from Dublin may influence proposals to further strengthen the role of tobacco excise taxes as a sustainable financing tool at FfD4, ban cigarette filters and single-use vapes and classify them as hazardous plastics under the plastics treaty, exclude tobacco producers from EPR schemes, and strengthen language in the UNGA Political Declaration on tobacco taxation and conflict of interest.

These discussions will inevitably reinforce the implementation of Article 5.3 of the FCTC, the backbone of the tobacco control treaty as it seeks to protect policy from tobacco industry influence.

With multilateral talks resuming across health, finance, and environmental domains, the key question is whether governments will act on these proposals and translate them into enforceable commitments.

We need to do better – young people are watching closely, not only as affected stakeholders and active participants, but as future decision-makers. The youth may not remember it, but around 20 years ago, Ireland was the first country in the world to ban smoking in pubs, so perhaps there’s no better place to be reminded that it’s possible to dream big, and act boldly.

Deborah Sy is the head of Global Public Policy and Strategy at the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control at Thammasat University in Thailand and the founder and senior advisor of HealthJustice in the Philippines. She is a member of the bar in the Philippines and in New York and has served as legal adviser to the Philippine delegation at numerous international meetings.

Image Credits: Steven Pahel/ Unsplash.