Submitted by selincene on October 18, 2022
Plastic pollution threatens the function of the world’s oceans and freshwater ecosystems, which serve as sanctuaries for biodiversity, vital food sources and major carbon sinks.
Despite the scale of the problem and the extent of its impacts, many companies still have a limited understanding and disclosure of how they contribute to the plastic crisis and their exposure to commercial, legal, and reputational risks linked to their dependence on plastics across their value chains. As a result, decision-makers lack clear, comprehensive, comparable plastic-related data across the global economy. Voluntary disclosure on plastics at scale will be critical in bridging this gap.
CDP, with expertise and support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, Minderoo Foundation, and The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is now expanding its global environmental disclosure system to help solve the plastic pollution problem. This expansion will include questions and metrics on plastics, informed by existing frameworks including the Ellen MacArthur and UNEP’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment framework, providing decision-makers with clear, comprehensive, and comparable data on the production, use, and disposal of plastics across the global economy.
Our collective ambition is to accelerate a circular economy for plastics, keeping them in the economy and out of the environment, helping to restore the health of our terrestrial, freshwater, and ocean ecosystems.
Our goal is to build a plastics disclosure and reporting initiative that is comparable to carbon. It should inform companies of their plastics footprint, so where possible they can take informed decisions to reduce plastics consumption. It should also provide data for financial institutions, policymakers, and the public of plastics consumption and usage so that they can make informed policy and investment decisions.
What are the risks of ignoring the plastic crisis?
- By 2050, single-use plastics could account for 5-10% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
- Marine plastic pollution is expected to triple over the next 20 years under a business-as-usual projection.
- Companies face US$100 billion annual financial risk if governments require them to cover waste management costs at expected volumes and recyclability.
