Plastics disclosure 2023 snapshot

Landmark data building a baseline for corporate action on the plastics crisis

In 2023, CDP expanded its global disclosure platform, empowering companies to disclose their plastic-related activities, impacts, risks and opportunities. CDP presents – for the first time – the results from this landmark corporate plastic data from almost 3,000 companies.

These findings represent a performance baseline for accelerating corporate action on plastic pollution and waste and highlight the significant gaps to be addressed in companies’ awareness of, and action to mitigate, plastic-related impacts and risks.

Disclosure on plastics is critical for building business resilience, reducing impacts and getting ahead of incoming regulation. This was recognized by almost 40 major companies with US$270 billion in market capitalization who signed CDP’s open letter calling for mandatory disclosure to be included in the Global Plastics Treaty, set to be agreed by the end of 2024.

...and this number is only increasing. Yet less than 10% of plastics are recycled globally each year.

Plastic pollution and waste are detrimental to our ecosystems, economies, communities and health. As the pace and scale of the plastic crisis escalates, we must act now. Disclosure is the first step.

60% of companies disclosing publicly is a strong baseline for beginning to make transparency on plastics a business norm.

Disclosing companies spanned every region and sector, with 40% of disclosing companies headquartered in the Asia Pacific region and less than 10% based in Latin America.

This reflects both the differing levels of corporate awareness of plastic-related risks across regions, and the variation in materiality of the challenges that companies face.

For example, the high percentage of disclosures from Asia is likely influenced by the fact that the region is faced with the highest plastic-related costs in the world, estimated at between US$5.4 billion and US$16.4 billion annually.

Many of the disclosing companies operate within sectors known to have significant plastic-related impacts, including food and beverage, retail, and apparel.

Mapping plastics produced and used across value chains is important because a large proportion of companies’ plastic-related impacts derive from both their suppliers’ activities and the use-phase of their products. For example, in the food and beverage industry, plastic packaging used to contain products often ends up as waste or pollution.

Concerningly, 41% of companies haven’t mapped the impact of their plastics use and production on the environment and human health – and don’t intend to do so within the next two years – despite overwhelming evidence of extensive negative impacts.

Each year, more evidence is being highlighted by scientists and frontline communities of the detrimental impacts that plastic production, pollution and waste have on people and planet:

Disclosure and engaging suppliers are critical steps to understand where plastics are produced, used and disposed of (or pollute) along the global value chain. They also help to identify where the systemic challenges plastics pose might be transformed into opportunities to scale data-driven solutions.

CDP data suggests many companies are both overlooking and underestimating their plastic-related risks.

Many disclosing companies operate in sectors known to have significant plastic-related impacts, meaning that they are very likely to face tangible risks as a result, such as supply chain disruptions, waste management fees, and regulatory risks.

With just 21% of disclosers having identified plastic-related risks, and more than half having failed to conduct plastic-related risk assessments in 2023, it is clear that companies are both overlooking and significantly underestimating the risks associated with their production, trade and use of plastics.

Risks for companies

Setting plastic-related targets is vital to creating the sustainable, circular business models that will reduce companies’ reliance on plastics and, in turn, reduce their plastic-related impacts and risks.

In 2023, 1,030 companies set 1,524 targets on key plastic-related topics

Setting plastic-related targets is vital for companies to create accountability and ensure awareness is translated into action. Plastic-related targets could span a number of objectives, from phasing out the use of virgin polymers and achieving full recyclability of products, to reducing microplastic pollution and ensuring waste is managed effectively.

The fact that plastic packaging and waste management were the most common target types indicates that many companies are currently focusing on managing downstream plastic impacts to reduce the amount of plastic being disposed of in their value chains. While these are priority issues to tackle, we cannot recycle our way out of the plastics crisis. Companies must set targets to address the full lifecycle and value chain of plastics, including to reduce their production, purchase and use of plastic products and polymers in the first place.

While CDP’s data demonstrates that many companies are recognizing the need to build an awareness of their plastic-related impacts and take action to address them, it also highlights major gaps that must be addressed.

Policymakers

Ahead of the next round of Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Ottawa in April 2024, policymakers must ensure mandatory corporate disclosure is a key part of the Treaty. The volume and quality of data required to enact effective, evidence-based plastic-related policy and to track progress can only be achieved with mandatory corporate disclosure regulation.

Companies

Companies must acknowledge the evidence: no industry is immune to the risks associated with plastic pollution. From 2024, all companies responding to CDP’s full corporate questionnaire will be able to disclose on plastics. With mandatory disclosure fast approaching, companies not ready to report on plastics will soon be left behind. The time to begin disclosing on plastics is now.

Investors

Clear, comprehensive data on plastic dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities is vital for financial institutions to avoid risks and inform investment decisions. Financial institutions must request companies in their portfolio to disclose on plastics as a first step toward reducing against plastic-related risks associated with investments and to align financial flows with sustainable business practice.

Footnotes

1. The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics – World Economic Forum
2. Plastic pollution is growing relentlessly as waste management and recycling falls short – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
3. The Real Truth About the U.S. Recycling Rate – Beyond Plastics and The Last Beach Cleanup
4. No Plastic in Nature: Assessing plastic ingestion from nature to people – World Wildlife Fund