The investor statement aims to:

1) Publicly express investors’ concern about the still growing volumes of plastic waste that ends as pollution in land and seas, posing a serious threat to biodiversity;

2) Send an aligned message of investor expectations towards investee companies; it may be used in (collaborative) investor engagement to show the widely shared investor concern for this environmental issue, and the need for urgent action to reduce plastic waste.

The statement sets out the following expectations for companies:

a) Publicly support – and do not lobby against – ambitious policy, including the Global Plastics Treaty and the European Commission’s proposal for a Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which contains a much-needed focus on prevention and reuse.

b) Commit to – and start delivering – absolute reduction of single-use plastic packaging, including through implementing re-use systems.

c) Address use of hazardous chemicals in value chain – obstacles to improving circularity - by committing to identifying and eliminating the use of hazardous substances in products and packaging and publicly reporting progress in doing so

The statement builds on work of the PRI plastic investor group, and aims to align also with the work of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty.