Global Plastics Treaty 2024

Countdown to the Global Plastics Treaty: Scheduled to be finalized this year, after two years of preparation by the United Nations Environment Assembly, the world's first legally binding Global Plastics Treaty is set to emerge. Facing this imminent industrial transformation, how should Taiwanese businesses respond?

Businesses should take heed: Reducing plastic usage is now more urgent than reducing carbon! Two pivotal events in 2024 underscore the urgency of plastic reduction, suggesting that targets must be achieved a decade earlier than carbon reduction goals.

Earth Day 2024, themed "Earth and Plastics," sets a target of a 60% reduction in plastic by 2040. Additionally, by year-end, the highly anticipated Global Plastics Treaty, hailed as the most significant international environmental agreement since the Paris Agreement, will be unveiled, targeting the year 2040 as well.

(Read more: Why is Earth Day 2024 refocusing on "Plastic Reduction"? The Global Plastics Treaty transitions from advocacy to regulation, highlighting key actions!)

Plastic reduction efforts are already underway, but urgency has escalated dramatically over the past two years.

In February 2022, the OECD published the "Global Plastics Outlook: Policy Scenarios to 2060," sounding alarms across sectors. It estimates that global plastic waste could nearly double within 40 years, from 353 million tons in 2019 to 1 billion tons by 2060, with only a tenth currently being recycled.

In March of the same year, the United Nations Environment Assembly began crafting the world's first legally binding Global Plastics Treaty, with completion expected within two years.

Fast forward to 2024, and this critical treaty affecting global industries is about to be finalized. How should Taiwanese businesses prepare? The Taiwan Sustainable Business Council consulted experts across various fields and distilled three key points:

1. Understand the implications of the "zero draft" of the treaty to anticipate future regulatory contexts across four main frameworks.
2. Learn from global brands and advanced countries which have already taken action despite the treaty not yet being finalized.
3. Taiwan's "Promotion of Resource Circulation Act" will soon be implemented, prompting early preparation for compliance with the Global Plastics Treaty.

For more details, you can refer to the full article here.