Regulation, particularly financial, can have great impacts on business agendas and sustainability timescales. The Plastic Packaging Tax, charged at £200 a tonne, incoming April 2022, has proved impactful for the use of plastic within the packaging industry. Many brands are swapping their packaging portfolios over to paper to avoid the tax completely, and make use of the already implemented paper recycling waste stream.
Currently, there exists a lack of regulation surrounding carbon emissions; the UN proposed their Race to Net Zero imperative, encouraging businesses around the globe to sign up to reduce their emissions. Although this is great, there is no financial penalty for businesses who do not evidence their reduction in emissions. An issue therefore lies in that actors who sign up to the commitment may be doing so for green marketing benefits, and greenwashing. The UK is the only country as of yet, to put in place a legal requirement for net zero (2050). All businesses must be net zero in the UK by mid-century or face punishment by law.
The Plastic Packaging Tax has proved instrumental in changing business behaviours, and increasing the amount of recycled content in the plastic which we consume, making way for a circular economy. If similar legislative measures were to be applied to the release of carbon emissions, and there were a universal tax on carbon, businesses would be incentivised to actively reduce their impact on the environment.
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