The next crisis is plastic

Last year it's estimated that over 400 million tons of plastic were created.

Between 2000 and 2019 , global plastic production doubled, and it's expected to double or triple again by 2050 .

Plastic production accounted for over 5% of all greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 .

The overwhelming majority of plastics are made from fossil fuels, especially oil, and so as well as propping up the fossil fuel industry, both extraction of their raw material and manufacturing processes are carbon intense.

Next week in Busan , South Korea , the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee is meeting to conclude negotiations on an international legally binding treaty on plastic pollution.

This treaty has been described as the most important piece of environmental legislation since the Paris Agreement for Climate Change .

But past has taught us that in order to fix an environmental problem like this, you have to go to the source.

If this agreement is going to have real teeth, it needs to impose a global winding down of plastic production.

Fossil fuel producers, plastic manufacturers and countries that host both will attempt to oppose this type of legislation.

Donald Trump was reelected this year to serve as President of the United States in one of the electoral decisions of all time.