Global plastic treaty: WBCSD pushes for universal disclosure metrics amid INC first session

29 Nov 2022 --- World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has released a white paper to “open the debate on harmonization of plastic-related metrics.” It has been published in relation to the ongoing UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee’s (INC) first session in Punta del Este, Uruguay, to develop an internationally binding treaty on plastic pollution.

The document “calls for concerted action” to curb plastic waste losses to the environment through proposed metrics that complement ongoing public sector efforts to measure and report national-level plastic waste outputs and private sector disclosure of comparable data.

The group is lobbying for universally adopted metrics that it says would allow for standardized data collection, clear and transparent comparison between companies and harmonization of the reporting systems. 

Additionally, it suggests understanding waste streams would enable meaningful investment in plastic waste collection and recycling infrastructure. Universally adopted metrics would provide a company insights into its current and future value chain and business model, WBCSD enlists.

 In the context of the UN's international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, WBCSD has released its latest white paper.“With the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution in development as a guiding legal framework and the CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) disclosure mechanism as an evolving instrument to increase the level of transparency that can inform action, the tone is set for the private sector to strengthen its grip on plastic footprint measurement and disclosure,” the paper titled Enabling Corporate Plastics Disclosure underscores.

“WBCSD calls for a debate and proactive coordination between multiple stakeholders to create this global corporate accountability framework, in the context of the negotiations of the international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.”

Corporate environmental disclosure
The document details that plastic requires a disclosure system that enables the participation of actors throughout the value chain to tackle waste mismanagement issues. 

While climate disclosure has rapidly evolved over the past three decades from voluntary practices to legal requirements, the externalities of plastic go further than carbon emissions, and the full extent of the material’s environmental impacts is not captured.

“Without specific disclosure metrics for plastic inputs (what is put on the market) and outputs (the fate of the waste created), concerted action is not possible,” the paper asserts.

The assessment carried out by WBCSD found that none of the existing initiatives require equal reporting of both inputs and outputs, with most of them exclusively focusing on information and a few covering output measurement methodologies.

Elaborating on the need for standardized data sets to monitor and evaluate both material inputs and outputs to facilitate policy interventions, it draws attention to the private sector plastic pollution efforts being limited to target-setting and voluntary commitment platforms.

“We propose plastics disclosure metrics based on two levels: the generic metrics applicable for any actor irrespective of its position within the plastic value chain; and the metrics specific to some value chain actors. We also propose reporting additional modeled metrics for end-of-life scenarios to understand the circularity potential for materials,” the paper states.WBCSD’s white paper identifies existing plastic disclosure metrics used by companies and selects the ones that could feed a global framework. 

Industry outlook 
WBCSD found the dominating reporting systems to be Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Commitments for plastic packaging and local extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes or other mandatory local schemes.

“Similar to the findings in the landscape assessment, what companies are currently reporting is heavy on the input side, meaning raw material inputs and use-type differences (single-use versus reusable). There is limited reporting on the end-of-life impacts of materials, meaning what happens after the use phase: how much is circular, mismanaged or leaked into the environment,” the paper reports.

Interviewing 26 representatives of the plastic value chain, WBCSD enlists opportunities, challenges and risks involved with a global disclosure framework.

“We can draw three main conclusions: Universally adopted plastics disclosure should provide visibility on both material inputs and outputs; any company should be able to adopt plastics disclosure metrics, irrespective of the industry it operates in and where it is in the plastics value chain; the metrics should allow for the similar reporting of other materials, meaning be material-agnostic,” it summarizes.

Edited by Radhika Sikaria