Innovating finance to combat plastic pollution

Late last year, negotiators at COP 28 agreed to operationalize a Loss and Damage Fund to combat climate change. This fund, which was first raised at COP 19 (in 2013), aims to support vulnerable countries dealing with the effects of climate change.

As with climate change, addressing plastic pollution globally will require massive investment. Negotiators for an international legally binding instrument to combat plastic pollution will need to determine how to raise this capital. Indeed, financing is a key element of the revised draft text that was developed after the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, which took place in November at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.