The future of the 8.2 billion people co-inhabiting this world hinges on sustainable growth and development. And this year’s World Environment Day comes with an alarming reminder that our planet is drowning in plastic, and along with all of us!
As per the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), a garbage truck’s worth of plastic finds its way into our rivers, oceans, and lakes every minute! To put things in perspective, that’s 19 million tonnes of plastic waste disposed of into our water bodies each year.
And if nothing changes, that figure will triple by 2040.
However, plastic pollution isn’t about too many plastic straws, littered beaches or clogged drains. It’s part of a larger environmental crisis, one that envelopes climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and the extinction of natural resources due to overconsumption. Thus, no measure to preserve and conserve the environment can ever be complete until we look at ways to evolve the entire system.
Plastic pollution & climate change: The chicken & egg conundrum
We are only beginning to shed light on the complex linkages between plastic pollution and climate change. We owe 5% of greenhouse gas emissions across the globe, only to the production and disposal of plastics. That alone makes “plastic” the fifth-largest emitter of global greenhouse gases, let alone its impact on the lives of all creatures and organisms on this planet – be it the land, the oceans and others.
And here’s the catch! The wider climate change emergency wouldn’t wait for us to curb plastic use first. The world is already reeling under the impact of rising temperatures, extreme weather conditions, and erratic rainfall, among others. And thus, it begs for an integrated approach – one that addresses the growing menace of plastic pollution while also leading us to clean energy & sustainable growth.
Clean energy: Powering a plastic-free future
Plastic pollution is a crisis that has no longer remained intangible or hidden under the surface. We can see it all around us, along with the growing anxiety around microplastics finding their way into food, air, water, and threatening human and aquatic lives.
And while that is true, another fact remains that no amount of curbing plastic will ensure the safety of our planet if we continue to rely on fossils for fuelling our homes, industries, and infrastructure.
Thus, the road to ending plastic pollution would inevitably lead us to the mainstreaming of renewable energy, especially solar energy. In recent years, India has made significant progress, crossing 73 GW of installed solar capacity. However, the nation further has ambitious targets of achieving 500 GW of energy capacity through renewable by 2030. To the same end, we need to think big, be bold, and act within time!
Meaningful collaborations between public and private sector can bring about this change. While the government set the directives, through policies and protocols, the private enterprises bring in their executive brilliance in speed, scale, and operational excellence. While the government overseas public utility and governance, the private players execute these aspirational projects, perhaps driven also with performance-linked incentives. We have already seen this model work across India’s cutting-edge data parks, pipeline corridors, and metro systems. It’s time for scale towards the larger sustainability goals.
The promise of clean energy is not just cutting emissions. It forces us to reimagine how we function as society – especially our airports, transport systems, data centres, and other industries. Imagine a future where every critical function runs on decentralised solar-powered battery grids! It automatically resolves our dependence on systems that are plastic-heavy and fossil fuel dependent.
This not a fictional Utopia. That’s maverick engineering and execution, only waiting to happen!
