The recent COP21 climate change talks in Paris have concluded with an agreement on the key principle of keeping “global temperature increase to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C”.
While the aspiration on limiting global temperatures must be applauded, we have a long way to catch up following both the Rio and Copenhagen Summit failures. With no binding legislation or measures it’s difficult to see how this target can be achieved and the dichotomy is that we must not even contemplate failure.
Moving towards a circular economy
The reality is that to achieve anything meaningful much of our locked up carbon has to remain in the ground and that means moving towards a circular economy as fast as we possibly can – is it coincidence that the European Commission released its Circular Economy package days before the Paris talks?
I believe that the role of a Producer Compliance Scheme in developing business partnerships or integrated sectoral approaches to resource and energy use could be pivotal – and with the European Commision estimating carbon savings of 450 million tonnes through the circular economy it’s an opportunity that’s literally too good to waste.
Robbie Staniforth
Innovation and policy director
Robbie is innovation and policy director at Ecosurety. Having spent years building an intimate understanding of the industry’s policies and politics, he uses this knowledge to help shape new legislation and oversees Ecosurety’s growing portfolio of cross-industry innovation projects including Podback and the Flexible Plastic Fund. He has worked closely with Defra during the most recent packaging consultations, outlining the impacts and required transitional arrangements of the UK’s new EPR system and is a member of the government’s Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP). He is also a spokesperson for the company and regularly uses his influence to communicate the importance of environmental responsibility to external stakeholders.
Useful links
The Waste Prevention Programme (WPP) for England is a cross-departmental plan that details the Government’s priorities in moving toward a circular economy, and progress against the Resources and Waste Strategy published in 2018.
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