Blog

Karen Fisher is WRAP’s newly appointed Head of Climate Action Strategy. She has been at WRAP for eight years and has been at the heart of our work with the Courtauld Commitment; most recently spearheading a first of its kind look at how to decarbonise the UK’s food and drinks industry which has been described as potentially transformative. She is at COP 26 as part of WRAP’s delegation and will be talking about this. Here, she provides insights on how we can get there, her new role at WRAP, and her message to world leaders.

Dr Richard Swannell, International Director of WRAP, is one of the leading experts on food system transformation in the world. He is part of our delegation at COP26 and will be speaking in several forums.

Before he headed off for Glasgow, Richard reflected on why he believes food system transformation should be a key weapon in the fight against climate change.

We recently posed the question to some of the world’s leading experts in food sustainability whether the global food system was the ‘hidden hero’ in tackling climate change and a weapon to reaching net zero. After our summit last week I came away more of the opinion that it is in fact a hero in plain sight.

It is Recycle Week, so what better time could there be to announce that WRAPs citizen behaviour change team have created a behavioural nudge proven to increase household recycling – an impressive 7%¹ increase in stated recycling behaviour!

We’ve been reflecting back on 2020-21 for our Annual Review. It was a period when we not only had to respond to the immediate national Covid-19 emergency, but also prepare for the future enormous and imminent challenges ahead: the fight to save our planet.

Nandini Kumar, Consultant at Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development at Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Varun Aggarwal, Associate Director-Sustainable Business, from World Wildlife Fund for Nature-India (WWF India), sat down with WRAP’s international plastics lead Peter Skelton to discuss the newly-launched India Plastics Pact – the challenges and opportunities ahead; its significance both for India, and the global fight against plastic pollution, and how it is drawing inspiration from The UK Plastics Pact.

WRAP research conducted throughout 2020 showed that Covid-19, the associated lockdown, and the social distancing measures that were put in place across the UK had a profound impact on our attitudes to the environment.

Today’s report is a shock – but it’s not a surprise. We all knew the world was at risk of losing the battle against climate change. We all knew there was much more to be done. We all knew that no nation could say hand on heart that it was doing enough.

The radical measures outlined by the UK Government to introduce an extended producer responsibility regime to replace the PRN system, a deposit return scheme for drinks packaging, and measures to build a more consistent collection system in England present a set of powerful levers for change. If designed to complement and not counteract each other, they could provide the kick-start needed to drive up stalling recycling rates, promote eco-design, tackle plastic pollution, and accelerate the shift towards a more circular economy.

The decisions we make in the next few years are perhaps the most important in the history of our species. I think by now there is not a person sitting in government or running a business who is not aware of the existential threat facing our planet. It is not about ‘why’ anymore. The challenge now is ‘how’. How to turn commitments and aspirations into meaningful urgent action.