Welcome to the Plastics Weekly, NEO’s regular news monitoring of the plastics industry.
Every week, we publish a roundup of the top developments in plastics and sustainability – from regulatory changes to company news.
This week’s highlights:
- The United States is looking for allies to drive negotiations on a global plastic pollution treaty, weeks after a similar group involving several other G7 nations was launched, according to a document seen by Reuters. The move highlights the U.S.’s desire to keep the treaty’s focus on individual country efforts in a model similar to the 2015 Paris climate accord, rather than provide new universal rules favoured by other major nations, sources said. The U.S.-led coalition aims to launch at or before the first round of treaty negotiations scheduled to take place in Uruguay from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2. (Reuters)
- The government of India plans to redraft the guidelines for Petroleum, Chemicals, and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) as part of its aim to make the country one of the world’s largest chemicals and petrochemicals manufacturing hubs. The government plans to support the petrochemicals industry to take maximum advantage of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme that was recently introduced. (Polymer Update)
- Plastic production accounts for 9% of EU fossil gas consumption – making it by far the largest industrial oil, gas, and electricity user in the EU, according to a new report. Reacting to supply cuts from Russia, EU member states have agreed to reduce gas consumption by at least 15% by March 31 next year. (Gas World)
- The plastics industry should embrace carbon accounting, an author argues in Plastics Today. As more companies strive to lower their own carbon footprint and reach net-zero carbon emissions, carbon accounting provides companies and third parties with numerical data that enables companies to take responsibility for their carbon footprint. With governments around the world set to eventually require carbon reporting, companies would be wise to start preparing now for such a major policy change. (Plastics Today)
