Global plastics treaty on a knife-edge

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♻️ This week’s sustainability news

Future of plastic pollution being decided

What’s happening: Talks about a plastic pollution agreement are wrapping up on Sunday or early Monday in Busan, South Korea. Countries are still discussing whether to address the rapid increase in plastic production. The newest version of the agreement hasn't been shared yet. Negotiators worked all day Saturday in private to try to come to an agreement. The biggest disagreement is about whether to restrict how much plastic companies can produce. On Sunday, delegates from Panama and Fiji urged other countries to support the goals of the treaty or step aside. At a press conference, representatives from Mexico, France, Rwanda, and the European Union joined them, promising to do everything they can to advance a treaty that will address the crisis. On Sunday morning, Canada urged for strong and clear action. This statement was made on behalf of the countries that have hosted negotiation meetings: Uruguay, France, Kenya, Canada, and South Korea. “The time for incremental progress is over,” it says.

Why it’s happening: Countries first agreed to negotiate a plastics treaty in 2022 and had the last meeting in April. The United Nations convened the final negotiations in Busan. The UN treaty process has made researchers, community leaders, and company executives work more urgently to increase reuse, improve recycling, and ensure plastics are used properly. On Friday, a growing number of countries said they wanted to address the total amount of plastic being produced on Earth. A top US official told The Associated Press on Saturday that the country agrees with including a rule in the treaty to reduce the global amount of plastic. However, the re-election of Donald Trump and the Republican control of the Senate has thrown doubt on the US ratifying the treaty. Some countries that produce plastic and oil and gas also find any reduction unacceptable. They prefer a treaty that emphasises improving plastic waste management and recycling. Right now, all countries must agree for any proposal to be included in the treaty. India, Saudi Arabia, and others want to keep it this way. Olga Givernet, France's minister for energy, expressed concern that a few countries are blocking progress.

Why it’s important: A 2020 study found that there is so much plastic in the world that it weighs more than all animals on the planet combined. The United Nations Environment Programme also said that about one-third of the plastic made each year is used for single-use items like wrappers, packaging, bottles, and bags. Each year, over 400 million tons of new plastic are made worldwide. If no new policies are introduced, plastic production could increase by about 70% by 2040. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a large environmental group with over 1,400 member organisations, says that 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. This plastic makes up 80% of all waste in the sea. It's not only the oceans that are affected. Making plastic also harms our climate. Most plastics are made from chemicals found in oil, and making them releases greenhouse gases. Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovered that making the main types of plastic causes about 5% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than what airplanes produce. More and more studies also show that some parts of plastics can be harmful to human health.

Trump’s ‘energy dominance’ rhetoric worries climate activists

What’s happening: President-elect Donald Trump chose Chris Wright, the CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking company in Denver, to head the Department of Energy. Wright agrees that carbon emissions cause global warming, but unlike most scientists, he believes that the economic and lifestyle benefits of producing more fossil fuels are more important than the potential dangers. Some critics believe that the United States is on the verge of becoming a country controlled by wealthy individuals and oil companies, making it similar to a petrostate.

Why it’s happening: Economists and political scientists say that the United States isn't a typical petrostate because its economy is more varied than countries that rely heavily on oil and gas. Also, most of the money made from fossil fuels in the US goes to private companies, not the government. However, experts admit that sometimes the United States acts like a country that relies heavily on oil, especially when it doesn't take action on climate change and in how it handles foreign relations as a top oil and gas exporter. The fossil fuel industry's power is likely to grow under Trump, who doesn't see climate change as a big issue and believes ‘energy dominance’ is a key policy goal.

Why it’s important: The oil and gas industry makes up only 8 percent of the US economy, but in 2024 they donated a record $219 million to political causes. They mostly supported Republicans and conservative groups, as reported by the watchdog group Open Secrets. During Trump's presidency, we'll discover if businesses, states, and people who support clean energy can have enough influence to stop the US from becoming too dependent on oil and gas, like some other countries have. The free market and democratic systems might stop the US from becoming like other petrostates. However, the 2024 election has shown many people that having a lot of fossil fuels makes it more difficult for the US to take action on climate change.

📖 Read the full article: Trump’s ‘energy dominance’ agenda sounds like a petrostate plan to some

🌐 Travel to Mexico

Experience beautiful waterfalls and local hospitality

Unique experience in Chiapas: Read our article to see how we could stay overnight and then explore some of the most stunning waterfalls and natural rock pools we’ve ever seen at Cascadas Roberto Barrios.

😇 People doing great things

Making it easier to recycle black-coloured plastics

Those coffee cup lids often end up in landfill: Such plastic items are made with a colour additive that makes it hard for recycling centres to sort them because their scanners can't detect black. These items absorb light instead of reflecting it, which makes it very hard for automated recycling systems to detect them. To break down the molecular bonds of these plastics, you need to heat them a lot, which is expensive and doesn't work well. This makes it simpler to throw these items away instead of recycling them correctly. Researchers from Cornell and Princeton Universities have found a way to deal with these tough plastics. By using some sunlight or white LED light, they can change black and coloured polystyrene into materials that can be used again. It's not new to use light to help break down plastic into more useful materials, but this method needs an extra compound to turn light into heat to break the plastic's chemical bonds. Researchers Sewon Oh, Hanning Jiang, and Erin Stache used a compound already in black polystyrene: carbon black. This additive is found in most black-coloured plastics, like food containers and packaging. They tested this method with lab-made black polystyrene by grinding the plastic and carbon black into a fine powder and putting it in a sealed glass vial. Then, they placed the vial under a strong white LED light for 30 minutes. The carbon black turned the light into heat, breaking down the polystyrene's structure.

⭐️ Weekly inspiration

Corporate America invests in record levels of solar

Big tech companies take top spots: Meta, Google, and Amazon are leading the way while other major companies like Toyota and US Steel are also also increasing their use of solar energy and battery storage as US businesses installed almost 40 gigawatts of solar power and used more than 1.8 gigawatt-hours of battery storage during Q1 2024.

Aspen’s sustainability report aims to save skiing

For as long as possible: The report rejects conventional sustainable business practices, instead outlining "changemaking" strategies that include "freaking out the fossil fuel industry," taking lead roles in crafting legislation and supporting like-minded candidates, calling "peer businesses to account" and mobilizing customers to take action.

Surprising cooking method is least polluting

Cooking contributes to indoor air pollution: A study by researchers at the University of Birmingham determined that air fryers were the least polluting method by using a campus research kitchen instead of a laboratory chamber to most accurately measure pollution from different cooking methods where they are most likely to be used.

Factory slashes emissions with a novel solution

Switching from a gas boiler to renewable electricity: The factory in the Netherlands will use a new system from German startup Kraftblock, which charges a shipping container filled with small spheres designed to soak up heat when there is cheap solar or wind power available on the electrical grid and releasing it on demand when needed.

Election of Trump unlikely to derail giant wind farm

Biggest wind farm in the Gulf of Mexico: The project is taking so long to develop that it won't start getting permits or begin construction until after Trump's four-year term ends, says German energy company RWE who will build the wind farm 40 miles south of Louisiana, providing power to over 350,000 homes once operational in about ten years.

A small town in Maine is planning its own microgrid

Could be a model for a clean energy future: A community-driven project in the coastal town of Eastport is creating solar and tidal energy to power a small grid, which will help the island community handle power outages without relying on expensive and polluting diesel fuel; five other coastal towns in Maine will be following with similar projects.

More than 30 stranded whales saved in New Zealand

The country is a hotspot for stranded whales: After stranding themselves on a beach in New Zealand, they were safely returned to the ocean after conservation workers and hundreds of local residents helped to return them to the ocean by lifting them on sheets; sadly four of the pilot whales couldn’t be saved, New Zealand's conservation agency said.

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