Goal #7 – Affordable and Clean Energy

14% of the global population - or approximately 1.1 billion people - currently lack access to electricity.[1] Unless affordable and clean energy is available to all developing countries, the progress towards reaching any of the other UN SDGs will be severely limited.

• Decarbonising the energy supply is simply not possible without the use of plastics.

• The UK is one of the first major economies to have agreed a net zero emission target for 2050.[2] The deployment of renewable energy sources is dependent on plastics and the industry has a major role to play in reaching UK’s net zero emission target.  

• Wind energy relies on plastics to produce wind turbine blades using fibre-reinforced composites. These are the only materials with the right combination of stiffness, density and fatigue resistance to produce blades.

• Solar energy relies primarily on silicon technology, but most solar cells are encapsulated in a polymer resin to protect the silicon cell. New technologies using printed polymers offer lower weight, flexible solar cells that can be easily transported and assembled. This technology could revolutionise the provision of low-cost distributed solar energy for the developing world.

Climate Change Energy Reduction Agreement

Increasing energy efficiency in the plastics sector within the UK has been a priority for the industry. Modern plastics processing machinery is becoming increasingly energy efficient and uses between 20%-50% less energy than ten years ago. In addition, the BPF’s Climate Change Agreement (CCA) is one of the largest in the UK, with over 350 sites registered.

A Climate change agreement (CCA) is a voluntary agreement containing targets to increase energy efficiency and reduce CO₂ emissions.  They form part of a package of UK government measures to respond to the challenges of climate change while helping the industry remain internationally competitive.

The Climate Change Levy (CCL) is an environmental tax charged on the energy used by businesses through the supplier. It is designed to encourage energy efficiency and to reduce carbon emissions.

Operators who commit to a CCA are required to work towards their energy efficiency improvement target. The Plastic sector improvement target is 17% against a base line of 2008.

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[1] https://www.iea.org/energyaccess/database/

[2]https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-becomes-first-major-economy-to-pass-net-zero-emissions-law