COP27: Impact on Plastic Production

The Conference of the Parties 27 (COP27), held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt this year from November 6-20, has come to an end. This is a recap on the outcome and, how the outcome pertains to plastic production and ultimately plastic pollution. The above plastic pyramid, measuring nearly 33 feet high and weighing almost 18 metric tons, is made of plastic litter removed from the Nile River and is located just outside of Cairo. The sculpture was created and intended as a stark message to the leaders at COP27 about the planet’s “incredible crisis of plastic pollution”. However, the plastic pyramid apparently had no impact on any of the world leaders, even those who attended the conference. Of the 4 major polluting counties in the world, no leader was present from China, India, or Russia. US President Joe Biden attended for approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes. Again, the conference lasted 16 days. The highlight announcement from the US President basically came down to a $7,500 US government subsidized rebate for the purchase of certain new electric vehicles that were all part of the Inflation Reduction Bill he signed into law. In fact, the best news from COP27 was another government-subsidized deal to provide financial support from developed countries to poorer ones suffering from climate disasters. They call the fund compensation for “Loss and Damage” of the climate crisis that could be worth up to $1.7 trillion by 2050 according to one study. Unfortunately, none of the developed countries are willing to pay into the fund, so again nothing was accomplished at COP27. The funding and compensation for the “Loss and Damage” fund will be further discussed at COP28.

In the end, there was no mention of the reduction of the use of fossil fuels in the final text from the conference. There was no mention of new targets for phasing out fossil fuels either. In other words, nothing of any consequence for reducing global warming was accomplished. In fact, German energy company RWE is currently destroying one of its wind farms located outside Lutzerath, Germany to make room for the expansion of its Garzweiler coal mine. This is quite literally the opposite of “Going Green”.  Not even a damning new flagship UN report on climate change indicating that harmful carbon emissions from 2010-2019 have never been higher in human history could convince the world of the urgency. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, has warned, "This is proof that the world is on a ‘fast track to disaster”, with scientists arguing that it’s ‘now or never.’ The UN chief added: “This is not fiction or exaggeration. It is what science tells us will result from our current energy policies. We are on a pathway to global warming of more than double the 1.5-degree (Celsius, or 2.7-degrees Fahrenheit) limit” that was agreed in Paris in 2015. The IPCC report, written by hundreds of leading scientists and agreed by 195 countries, noted that “greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity, have increased since 2010 across all major sectors globally”. In an op-ed article penned for the Washington Post, Mr. Guterres described the latest IPCC report as "a litany of broken climate promises", which revealed a "yawning gap between climate pledges, and reality." He wrote that high-emitting governments and corporations, were not just turning a blind eye, "they are adding fuel to the flames by continuing to invest in climate-choking industries. Scientists warn that we are already perilously close to tipping points that could lead to cascading and irreversible climate effects”. So here we are with fossil fuels setting all-time records for extraction and use on the planet. Fossil fuel and mining companies worldwide are reporting record profits which bring us to plastics.

Ethane is a hydrocarbon derived from natural gas. It is the main component in the production of ethylene a major feedstock in the plastics industry. In the U.S., the production of ethane has grown rapidly since 2013. Production has nearly doubled from 0.95 million barrels per day (b/d) in the first quarter of 2013 to 1.85 million b/d in the first quarter of 2021. It is forecast that ethane production will continue to grow in response to a growing U.S. petrochemical industry and rising ethane exports to petrochemical plants around the world, reaching 2.6 million b/d by the fourth quarter of 2022. U.S. demand for ethane has been growing steadily as a result of capacity expansions of ethylene refiners in the petrochemical industry, which use ethane as a feedstock to produce ethylene.

Ethylene is a basic chemical used to produce plastics and resins. Consumers most notably recognize it as polyethylene used in many everyday products and single-use packages. It is estimated that the U.S. petrochemical industry expanded its capacity to produce ethylene from almost 27 million metric tons per year (mt/y) in the first quarter of 2013 (when the first capacity additions to ethylene refiners in over a decade came online) to almost 40 million mt/y in 2020. This growth in ethylene capacity caused domestic demand for ethane to grow from 960,000 b/d in the first quarter of 2013 to 1.83 million b/d in the fourth quarter of 2020.

We can now see that nothing was accomplished to reduce fossil fuel extraction and use during COP27. Actually, all sectors of fossil fuels are increasing. This means only one thing for the plastics industry: more plastic. The vast majority of this type of plastic is for single-use packaging that ends up in a landfill —or it could even end up in a sculpture outside of Cairo. This type of throw-away plastic is exactly what all of us here at Earth & Body Wise are trying to eliminate. We feel the message from these conferences reinforces the idea that all individuals need to take personal responsibility for their own fossil fuel and petrochemical use. We each have to take personal accountability for our own health and how these plastics and petrochemicals impact our personal health. By doing so, we will all also be helping the environment. Thank you for helping do your part in leading a healthier lifestyle and making healthy choices regarding the environment and planet Earth!