Plastic is predominantly produced from oil and gas, both of which are fossil fuels. Therefore, as more plastic are made, more fossil fuel is required thereby intensifying the climate crisis. Moreso, plastic create greenhouse gas emissions across their entire lifecycle, and are the largest, most harmful and persistent fraction of marine litter; constituting at least 85% of total marine waste.
In addition, according to the United Nations, more than 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year worldwide of which only half of it is designed to be used once and since less than 10% of it is also recycled, an estimated 19-23 million tonnes end up in streams, lakes, rivers and seas annually. Microplastics find their way into food, water and air thereby making each person on the planet consume more than 50,000 plastic particles per year and many more if inhalation is considered. Unfortunately too, discarded or burnt single-use plastic harms human health and biodiversity, and pollutes the entire ecosystem.
As we mark the 50th year of celebrating the World Environment Day, we must be reminded that inaction will nearly triple plastic waste flowing into aquatic ecosystems and could also make the greenhouse gas emissions caused by plastic account for 19% of the Paris Agreement’s total allowable emissions by 2040.
Apparently, all stakeholders need to understand that nature is in an emergency mode and it is important we scale up actions if we will succeed in halving annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to keep global warming below 1.5°C in this century.
Fortunately, we have the technology and solutions needed to beatplasticpollution. All we need is commitment to actively deploy them.
Happy World Environment Day!
hashtagworldenvironmentday2023
United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
