Goal #13 – Climate Action
Climate change is without doubt the biggest environmental threat facing humanity. Governments around the world have made it a priority to adopt ambitious greenhouse gas emissions targets and deploy green energy technologies aiming to reach net zero emission levels towards mid-century in line with international commitments under the Paris Agreement.
- Using plastics more sustainably needs to be realised in conjunction with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Unintended consequences arising from transitioning to alternative materials which are often heavier, use more resources to produce and have different environmental impacts need to be carefully considered.
- Although most plastic production is dominated by fossil fuel feedstock, the amount used is marginal and must be viewed from the angle of the functions that the material is meeting across the diverse range of applications and sectors. Plastics deliver huge carbon savings - cars are much lighter and more fuel efficient because of the amount of plastic incorporated in their design and production; recycled plastics are now commonly used in car manufacturing. There are a multitude of applications where no other material can fulfil the same functions with an equal or lower environmental footprint than plastics.
- Scientists now fear that if the entire ‘cradle to grave’ lifecycle performance and environmental footprint of plastics is not carefully assessed in order to make informed decisions about the sustainability of plastics we might run the risk of dramatically increasing greenhouse gas emissions by switching to alternatives. [1]
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Plastics contribute to keeping down greenhouse gas emissions. Key plastic products used for thermal insulation, food packaging and renewable energy generation enable huge greenhouse gas emission savings. In the transport sector, plastics contribute to fuel savings through its benefits in light weighting cars and planes.
How Does Agriculture and Food Waste Contribute to Climate Change?
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Plastic packaging maintains food quality, safety and protects food from becoming waste. The environmental footprint of plastic packaging is marginal compared to the products it helps preserve.
Recent research shows that consumers do not fully understand the connection between packaging, food waste and climate change. One study found that 80% out of the 456, 000 tonnes of food waste collected in Scotland in 2016 ended up in landfill. During the same year, half of that amount, 224, 000 tonnes, was plastic waste collected. [2]
When food ends up in landfill it generates methane emissions during anaerobic degradation. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases as it has a much higher global warming potential than other greenhouse gases such as CO2. Overall, food waste has a much higher greenhouse gas footprint than the amount of plastic packaging used to protect food from becoming waste. [3]
Greenhouse gas emissions from the food supply chain make up 26% of global anthropogenic emissions, the second largest source after energy use. Today’s agricultural system is highly resource intensive with two-thirds of freshwater withdrawal being used for irrigation. At the same time, world food production needs to increase by 60% in order to keep pace with demographic change by 2050. [4]
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A staggering one third of the food currently produced worldwide is wasted. Unless agricultural practices become more sustainable and food waste dramatically reduced, greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and food production are set to become the largest source of anthropogenic emissions. Global food waste currently accounts for 8% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. If food waste were a country it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases. [5]
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-46396658
[2] https://theconversation.com/why-some-plastic-packaging-is-necessary-to-prevent-food-waste-and-protect-the-environment-117479
[3] https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials
[4] & [5] http://www.fao.org/3/a-bb144e.pdf
