Norway leads coalition to stop plastic pollution by 2040

On Monday, Norway and Rwanda launched a coalition to stop plastic pollution. The aim is to eliminate the problem within the next 18 years.

“We took the initiative to gather a group of ambitious countries to work together for an effective environmental treaty that establishes global rules and stops plastic pollution by 2040,” Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide (AP) stated in a press release.

The aim is to create a new international binding agreement against plastic pollution. The problem of plastic pollution is expected to increase in the coming decades without robust global action.

According to the OECD, plastic waste in rivers and lakes will increase from 109 million tonnes in 2019 to 348 tonnes in 2060. At the same time, plastic in the ocean is expected to increase from 30 million tonnes in 2019 to 145 million tonnes in 2060.

“This is an unacceptable burden for future generations. Plastic pollution poses a crisis for our planet that affects human health, biodiversity, and the climate,” Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Rwanda’s Environment Minister and the coalition’s second leader, stated.

A number of countries have already joined the coalition, including the UK, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Canada, France, and South Korea.

The members of the coalition will meet in New York in a few weeks to discuss the work leading up to the first negotiation meeting in Punta del Este in Uruguay on November 28.

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