Thought Leadership The Time To Invest In The Circular Economy For Plastics Is Now, According To Google Study
March 18, 2022
The Google-AFARA Plastic Circularity report on whichI wrote a few months back has now been released in full. One of the key findings from the report is that investment is crucial to creating a circular economy for plastics and that there are significantopportunities for investors, particularly at the nexus of climate and plastics. With a recycling value chain that is under pressure like never before, the need for investor engagement has never been greater. But thanks in part to this study, one thing is now clearer than ever – the current challenges facing the value chain present investors with a really unique opportunity to use their capital to steer the recycling industry back towards growth. The time to act and invest in solutions is now.
Love Him Or Hate Him, Larry Fink Is Mainstreaming The Idea Of Stakeholder Capitalism
February 18, 2022
With the short pronouncement in his most recent annual letter that “stakeholder capitalism is capitalism,” Larry Fink may have single-handedly moved the conversation about stakeholder capitalism to the fore in the investment arena. There’s a lot that has already been written on what Mr. Fink didn’t say in his letter and critics can be forgiven for calling out a lot of his letter’s shortcomings (aka, talk is cheap and he’s pretty much leaving the real, hard work up to the rest of us). Yes to all of that.
5 Ways CPG Companies Can Support And Champion Recycling
January 25, 2022
I love getting to work with changemakers who are informing the way we all think about catalyzing action and accelerating solutions to recycling’s biggest pain points. That’s why I’m pleased to share this recent conversation with Shannon Bouton, President and CEO of Delterra, an environmental nonprofit where I serve as a Member of the Board of Directors. Delterra and its flagship initiative, Rethinking Recycling, work with communities in the Global South to build inclusive and financially sustainable waste management and recycling solutions. They also partner with consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail corporations to absorb this ethically generated supply of recycled materials on an ongoing basis at a fair price, thus breaking the cycle of insufficient supply and low demand that plagues recycling and its economics. What I like about them is their full system approach coupled with their on-the-ground impact and learning. It is rare to find organizations willing and able to deliver on both the ‘big picture thinking’ and the ‘roll up your sleeves and make it happen’ capabilities.
Your Plastic Waste Is Heating Up The Planet: A New Tool Helps Investors Calculate Climate Impact Of Recycling
October 21, 2021
As COP26 leaders gather in Glasgow in two weeks to seek ways to take collective actions that can mitigate the effects of climate change, one important area for them to address is plastic waste pollution. While on the face of it ocean plastic may seem to be an environmental crisis wholly separate from climate change, new studies confirm it’s just the opposite: plastic pollution contributes to climate change. And now for the first time, thanks to a new research tool, we can measure exactly how much improving plastic waste management is reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here’s how.
Google Study Confirms Impact Investors Are Key To Creating A Circular Economy For Plastics
July 27, 2021
Google GOOG +1.8% teamed up with AFARA and IHS Markit INFO 0.0% to bring big data analytics to the plastic pollution crisis. Their important new study will be released later this summer, but we all recently got a sneak preview via the executive summary and the findings reveal critical and actionable insights.
A key finding, which readers of this column will not be surprised to see highlighted, is that investment is crucial to creating a circular economy for plastics and that there are significant opportunities for investors, particularly at the nexus of climate and plastics.
Solutions To The Plastic Pollution Crisis Will Drive The Next Wave Of Climate-Tech Innovation
April 27, 2021
As mainstream investors scramble to catch up to the burgeoning possibilities of climate-tech investing, one area of enormous opportunity stands out — circular plastic. To drive transformational change, we need to break siloed-thinking and invest holistically in the systems we aim to affect. Some of the most exciting innovations happening today include new technologies that are disrupting a cross-section of supply chains and sectors from materials and fashion to food waste to reusable business models while accelerating the circular economy in plastics. And all of them have a significant and direct impact on climate change.