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Global non-profit CDP’s environmental disclosure system is open for reporting on plastics for the first time as of 19 April. For fashion, it’s an opportunity to get granular about how much plastic the industry uses and produces in packaging, production and materials, including plastic-based fibres such as polyester. The next step is to create strategies to reduce or eliminate plastic.
Nearly 7,000 companies worldwide will be asked to report on plastic production and use initially through CDP’s water security questionnaire, as CDP says it has noticed a congruence between high-impact sectors that already disclose water security and high-impact plastics sectors. Questions will focus on “the most problematic plastics”, such as plastic polymers, durable plastics and plastic packaging.
Founded in 2000, CDP uses capital markets and corporate procurement to encourage companies to disclose their environmental impact. It works with over 740 investors with $136 trillion in assets, and in 2022, almost 20,000 companies globally disclosed data through CDP — including more than 18,700 companies that make up half the global market capitalisation. Up until now, plastic was not part of what companies were asked to disclose — instead, they shared information on climate change, water security and deforestation. CDP consulted with companies on plastics and found that 88 per cent said plastic is an issue, yet a third did not have plastic-related targets. CDP is continuing to evaluate its questionnaires on climate change, water security and deforestation to understand how plastics intersect. The ability to add plastic is necessary for understanding the scale of fashion’s plastic use and where in the production cycle plastic is most ubiquitous.
“The scale of the plastic pollution crisis is no secret,” said Cate Lamb, global director for water security at CDP, in a statement. “To be able to act effectively, companies must develop a robust understanding of how they contribute to the plastic pollution crisis and formulate equitable and just transition plans to address this. In turn, investors and policymakers need access to relevant, comprehensive and comparable data across the global economy on which to make better decisions.”
The reporting process will include plastic mapping, potential impacts on the environment, business risks and targets, and companies with certain plastic production and use activities will also answer questions on total weight, raw material content and circularity potential. The CDP’s plastics reporting questions are built on frameworks designed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UNEP’s Global Commitment Frameworks. Publicly disclosed data will be available from September. From here, brands could use the data to decipher where the majority of their plastic use and production occurs in the supply chain, implement alternatives, and track progress over the years as they work towards elimination. CDP stressed the need for transparency and accountability and said, “plastic-related disclosure will be the foundation of transformative action” but did not outline any specific solutions for how companies should use the plastic-related disclosure data to address their use and production of plastics.