SYDNEY, TUESDAY 23 APRIL 2024 – As negotiators from 176 nations meet this week to develop an international treaty on plastic pollution, Greenpeace is urging the Australian government to back a Global Plastics Treaty with strong plastic reduction targets that will put an end to single-use plastics in Australia.
The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), held this week in Canada, will discuss the draft terms of the Global Plastics Treaty, which the United Nations committed to deliver by the end of 2024.
Greenpeace is calling for the treaty to set a legally-binding target to reduce plastic production by at least 75% by 2040, followed by significant reductions in production year-on-year and eventually phase out plastic production entirely.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Oceans Campaigner Violette Snow said the Australian government must champion strong targets and focus on reducing plastic production.
“The INC-4 is a crucial meeting that could determine the role toxic plastic will play in the future of our planet, the health of our children and the stability of our climate. The clock is ticking. The Global Plastics Treaty is a once-in-a-generation opportunity – it can’t go to waste,” she said.
“Australia must stem the tide of plastic, starting with a strong, legally binding target to reduce plastic at its source. Australia can be a global leader by championing ambitious targets at the UN, and not bowing to petrostates trying to water down the treaty terms.”
Greenpeace is calling for the Global Plastics Treaty to end plastic pollution – from production to disposal – and to end single-use plastics to protect the environment and human health.
“Australians know that life in plastic isn’t fantastic. Plastic pollution floods our planet, destroys biodiversity, kills our wildlife and worsens the climate crisis across the entire life of plastic – from extraction, production, packaging, distribution, incineration and dumping. The deadly cycle brought by runaway plastic production and use needs to stop for good, and a strong treaty will see to that,” Snow said.
“As part of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, the Australian government must walk the talk and model high ambitions. We need more focus on rapidly phasing down plastic production, and less focus on band-aid solutions. While there is a place for recycling in a circular economy, we can’t rely on recycling our way out of the plastics crisis.”
—ENDS—
Notes:
Photos can be found here
A media briefing of the INC-4 is attached here
Audio grabs from Violette Snow can be found here
For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Kimberley Bernard on +61 407 581 404 or kbernard@greenpeace.org
Life in plastic, not fantastic: Australian govt must champion strong plastics treaty
As one distinguished scientist put it: “Genetics loads the gun and the environment pulls the trigger.”
From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with Dr. Philip Landrigan, director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College.
The energy-intensive plant would nearly double U.S. aluminum production, though questions remain on how much of its power would be sourced by renewables.
The “Hay Capital of the World” may soon also be the clean aluminum capital of America.
Global Aluminum Producer Announces $4 Billion Smelter for Wind-Rich Oklahoma
This is the time of the year when I notice a significant increase in the number of people bicycling to work and school. I consciously stop myself from smugly thinking, ‘where were you in January?’ and focus on sending ‘welcome to the bike path’ energy. The big jump in e-bikes is a double edged sword. I love that e-bikes make cycling accessible to those who have needs. I curse the danger created when those less responsible riders speed by without using any cycling etiquette. And, while I applaud the state offering rebates to folks who purchase an e-bike, some days I wonder where the subsidy is for those of us using pedal power year round?
You can’t play in the climate change world without following the push for more electric vehicles, more e-car infrastructure, and more affordable options in the e-vehicle universe. I try to hold the complexity and continue to wonder how we can seek fossil fuel free transportation strategies in ways that do not continue to cause harm, as the extraction of the minerals for e-vehicle batteries does.
I wish we could lean into models of urban (and even rural) development that center walkability and good public transportation, rather than continuing to center cars. I learned recently that Japan’s urban planning models center schools. Planning policies support low-traffic neighborhoods with people-centred streets. Mixed use zoning creates neighborhoods that are a blend of housing, retail and public services, while transit-oriented design means communities are built around public transport hubs. Street parking is prohibited in many Japanese cities, and as a result in Japan, roughly 98% of children walk or bike to school. I wish we could talk about effective, safe, and accessible public transportation and city walkability as climate solutions too.
For training purposes, I ride into the suburbs a lot. The sprawl of housing developments (grand houses with 4-car attached garages) begets new big 4 lane roads and highways, which is then followed by lots of big box stores and enormous parking lots. It makes me sad.
On Memorial Day this month, I will be joining local legend Donna Minter on her Grammy Ride, to cycle from New Orleans to Tallahassee to raise awareness about the climate crisis, to witness its impacts on the Gulf Shore, and to listen to local folks on their experiences with climate change. I am hoping to raise $10 for each mile I cycle — $4,600 total for 460 miles. Please join me and sponsor a mile, or ten.
Have you gotten your bike out this spring? Do you cycle to work? Do you cycle for fun? Did you know that May is National Bike Month? Here is your call to get your bike out, pump up the tires, oil up the chain and ride your bike to save the planet!
Susan Phillips
Executive Director
The post Cycling for the Planet appeared first on Climate Generation.
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