At talks on cutting plastic pollution, plastic credits are on the table. What are they?
The HinduTwo groups that want reduced plastics production published a report Friday highly critical of plastic credits, calling them a flawed tool that won't help with worldwide pollution from the material. Verra, the world's leading certifier of carbon offsets, said at an event alongside the talks alongside the talks that plastic credits can be a tool for mobilizing the money needed to tackle plastic pollution. When companies buy enough plastic credits to offset their plastic footprint over a set period of time, some may claim plastic neutrality or “net-zero plastic.” Kelsey, who was not involved in Friday's report, said it's a good thing to encourage people to take plastic waste out of the environment, but it's not as good as putting less plastic into the environment. “Often companies are buying credits under the assumption that they’re going to be helping the environment and removing plastic, when actually in a lot of cases they are just transforming that pollution from plastic pollution into toxic air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that is harming communities,” said Emma Priestland, global corporate campaigns coordinator at Break Free From Plastic. “Plastic credits create a new problem because the pollutants become more spread out and they’re invisible,” said Yuyun Ismawati, senior advisor of Nexus3 Foundation and plastic advisor for the International Pollutants Elimination Network Plastic.