- World leaders and UN delegations meet this week to negotiate the terms of a Global Plastic Treaty. This is a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution, with a target to complete deliberations by the end of 2024.
- With global plastic production expected to triple by 2060 (OECD), experts agree that finance will be key to bridging the significant plastic collection and recycling funding gap of $40 billion by 2040.
- Integrated with the Global Plastic Treaty, Verra’s Plastic Credits can finance projects that scale up collection and recycling capacity and improve livelihoods, while offering a viable solution for companies to take responsibility for their plastic waste.
Paris, France – 29 May 2023 | As talks for a Global Plastic Treaty continue this week in Paris, Verra is supporting key market players to address unavoidable plastic waste through Plastic Credits. The rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution seriously threaten the economic, social, and environmental and human health of the world.
Verra, the longest-established leader in setting robust global standards for voluntary climate action and sustainable development, says it is clear that a variety of solutions are needed today to address plastic pollution. Integrated with the Global Plastic Treaty, Plastic Credits can drive investment towards waste collection and recycling infrastructure worldwide to help meet the obligations of the Treaty.
“We are delighted to be a part of this important process, working alongside world leaders and industry experts to solve the global plastic crisis. Plastic Credits act as a downstream investment mechanism that complement reduction strategies and enable organizations to do their part in addressing plastic pollution. We believe that our high-integrity Plastic Credits are an immediate and effective tool for channeling critical finance to the infrastructure projects most needed to curb plastic pollution today and improve the livelihood of local communities and workers in waste collection and recycling.”
Plastic Credits as a Solution Today
With global plastic production expected to triple by 2060, experts agree that financing will be key to bridging the significant funding gap of $40 billion by 2040, especially for countries in the Global South.
Verra says that its Plastic Credits are an immediate solution and can be complementary to the changes a company makes across its supply chains in addressing plastic pollution. Using the world’s most rigorous standard to ensure the highest level of transparency, Verra’s Plastic Credits enable organizations to invest in projects that reduce the amount of plastic in nature through developing local collection and recycling infrastructure. Learn more about Verra’s Plastic Program and Plastic Credits here.
“To tackle plastic pollution and the socio-economic challenge for waste workers across regions, we need to enable local investment at a global scale. That will drive impactful plastic waste collection and recycling projects now, so we can deliver immediate impact.”
Experts concur that addressing the full scope of the plastic waste crisis must involve regulatory change. The imminent Global Plastic Treaty signals a unique and timely opportunity for the private sector to take responsibility for plastic waste beyond their value chain. Integrating a results-based financing tool like Plastic Credits in the treaty will allow it to deliver impact at scale.
“Addressing plastic pollution requires a complete toolbox of solutions. The scale and speed required to address current plastic pollution and avoid continued pollution needs to be dramatically increased. We need to move away from business-as-usual to deliver systemic change,” said Irene Hofmeijer, Associate Director of Circular Economy at South Pole. “The Global Plastic Treaty could be a game changer for this. Integrating Plastic Credits can play an important role in growing results-based finance for existing solutions today and enabling companies to rethink packaging decisions to avoid plastic pollution.”
“Financing plastic action is a straight-forward and immediate way for companies to support the construction of critical collection and recycling infrastructure where it’s urgently needed,” said Hofmeijer. “This way, it gives companies an opportunity to support the infrastructure of a circular economy, in addition to plastic reduction and product redesign.”
For questions and inquiries, please contact:
Joel Finkelstein, Senior Director, Media and Advocacy
jfinkelstein@verra.org | 202-285-0113
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Verra is attending the second meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop the Global Plastic Treaty, in Paris, 29 May – 2 June 2023.
On Tuesday, 30 May 2023 at 9 am CET the Verra team is hosting an external side event on Day 2 featuring representatives from stakeholder groups across the plastic value chain to discuss how Verra’s Plastic Standard and Plastic Credits can help advance the treaty’s goals.
On Thursday, 1 June at 1:30 pm CET Verra is co-organizing and speaking at an official INC-2 side event on Day 4 about promoting the environmentally sound management of plastic waste.
Verra is a nonprofit organization that operates and develops standards in environmental and social markets. Verra is committed to helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve livelihoods, and protect natural resources by working with the private and public sectors. We support climate action and sustainable development with standards, tools, and programs that credibly, transparently, and robustly assess environmental and social impacts and enable funding for sustaining and scaling up projects that verifiably deliver these benefits.