There have been lots of promising announcements and commitments from businesses, governments and communities to tackle the existential threat of the climate emergency. As we head into the final week of the conference, it’s important to recognise that we all have a role to play in bringing about the change we want to see in the world.
For over five years, BRITA UK has been working tirelessly with our long-term charity partners to support sustainable behaviour change in the UK. We recently sponsored a report by Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) entitled, ‘Message in a bottle: The shocking impact of plastic pollution on whales and dolphins and how we can reverse it.’ The report revealed how plastic pollution in our oceans is increasingly affecting whale and dolphin species and exacerbating climate change. As things stand, 68% of species are negatively affected by plastic pollution and this is only set to increase. And so, as the COP26 summit begins to draw its final conclusions, the report is an urgent wake-up call to governments, the public and businesses to cut back, reuse and replace single-use plastics, to avoid ecological and climate disaster.
BRITA and WDC are also calling on policymakers not to overlook the link between plastic pollution and increasing carbon emissions when discussing global solutions in the fight against climate change. We must ensure national and international conversations move in the direction of strengthening the ocean’s ability to mitigate climate change. Ultimately, if we have any hope of saving whales and dolphins from increasing plastic pollution, global governments need to agree on policies that eliminate unnecessary single-use plastics and prevent plastic pollution from entering our ocean.
At BRITA, we want to ensure our partnerships and corporate initiatives help mobilise a community that is supportive and inclusive, so we can all build back greener together. We are passionate about looking for new ways to improve how we do business as well as sharing what we learn with our customers and communities. What’s more, whilst plastic pollution is a really important topic for us, this year, we have broadened our efforts to champion sustainability; doing more to promote the importance of the waste hierarchy, while also looking at challenges around carbon emissions and climate change. We look forward to sharing more on this work as it develops over the remainder of this year and beyond.
For now, we hope the message in a bottle will be heard, as it’s not too late to take action.
