Viet Nam News

Finance firms urge action on plastic pollution

- REUTERS

A group of 160 financial companies yesterday urged government­s to agree a treaty to end plastic pollution that would help spur private sector action, ahead of the next round of global talks in Canada.

The fourth meeting of the Intergover­nmental Negotiatin­g Committee on Plastic Pollution is due to be held in Ottawa next week to lay the groundwork for an eventual deal before the end of the year.

Curtailing the estimated 400 million metric tonnes of waste produced every year is a crucial part of efforts to protect biodiversi­ty, with microplast­ics found everywhere from the mountainou­s Himalayas to staple foods and even human blood.

To help fix the problem, the finance firms, which include Britain's biggest investor Legal & General Investment Management and Canadian pension investor CDPQ, called for a policy framework backed up by binding rules.

Among specific steps, the group called for the treaty to set an objective for all public and private finance to be consistent with the goal of eliminatin­g plastic pollution, similar to that in the Paris climate agreement and the Kunming-montreal global biodiversi­ty framework.

It also called for companies to assess and disclose plastic-related risks and opportunit­ies; clearer plastic-related policies and targets from government­s in areas like waste creating and recycling; and for further private investment to be directed to ending plastic pollution.

"A clear transition pathway laid out in the Treaty will help leverage finance at scale for this massive task of ending plastic pollution worldwide," said Anne-sophie Castelnau, global head of sustainabi­lity at ING, one of the signatorie­s.

Steve Hardman, CEO of Plastic Collective, an NGO which designed the world's first plastic waste reduction bond alongside Citi and the World Bank, welcomed the support but called for business to provide more financial solutions.

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