Spring is finally here! As animals wake up from hibernation, humans too are undergoing a mass awakening from a long slumber of climate negligence. March began with a major climate win at a UN Environment Assembly meeting in Nairobi, where almost 200 countries agreed to start negotiating the terms for a global treaty to tackle the plastic crisis. In London, the UK government proposed an ambitious target of its own – to half the amount of waste that is landfilled and/or incinerated, by 2042, following its Environment Act last November. Back in Africa, Egypt is building the world’s greenest net-zero city – Nexgen – east of Cairo. Spread across 580 hectares, this city will actually produce more food and energy than it consumes!
While the world made palpable progress, we also took a few steps back as Russian troops laid siege on Ukraine. We’re here for love, not war and many packaging companies have responded by suspending operations in Russia. Our prayers are with Ukraine and we hope peace prevails soon. This war has dramatically increased energy prices and could see many paper mills switch to producing packaging grades. In positive news, a recent CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries) report indicated the paper industry is finally bouncing back from the aftermath of Covid-19. Some major brands like Nestlé, Unilever, and PepsiCo have announced increased investments to make their flexible packaging circular.
B Corp is the leading global audit to measure a company’s entire environmental and social performance and has over 4000 members. As you know, envoPAP has been a proud B Corp since 2019, and March is celebrated as B Corp month every year. Fittingly, we have a podcast, a blog, and a video waiting to take you #BehindTheB.