Plastic credit proposal

Pakistan's bold call for a global plastics credit market at the UN plastic treaty negotiations in Geneva merits serious attention from the world. The proposal is modeled on carbon credits — countries get a certain number of credits, and companies must essentially buy these credits if they pollute more than a certain level, with low polluters allowed to sell their excess credits to pay for climate adaptation and other projects.

It is worth noting that wealthy nations consume plastics at rates 20 times higher than developing countries like Pakistan. The per capita plastic consumption in Western Europe is about 150 kg per year, compared to just seven in Pakistan, according to Climate Change Minister Dr Musadik Malik. And even though many plastics are not reliably recyclable, several countries also fool their populations with feel-good recycling programmes which are actually just literal garbage export operations, sending millions of tonnes of plastics and other trash to landfills across the developing world.

A credits system would reward action, not just penalise failure. Countries like Pakistan, India, Nigeria and other low plastic consumers would earn credits for verified progress in recycling, waste collection or prevention. Heavy polluters would not only fund climate adaptation, but also support the development budgets of the worst-affected countries, which could help fill gaps left by the impact of natural disasters.

Many local governments in developed countries that are discouraging the use of consumer plastics, such as shopping bags, by heavily taxing them, are not redirecting these revenues to climate-related policies and are simply diverting them to fill local budget gaps — an approach that could amount to a form of 'greenwashing', as it is only slightly discouraging plastic use while doing nothing to address the damage already done. A global policy would also make such local plastic taxes more purposeful, as part of the tax revenue would invariably be diverted to pay for credit purchases and, in turn, climate adaptation.