The sculpture 'Save The World Hotel' by German artist HA Schult in Cologne, Germany, in September 2017. (Keystone/EPA/Sascha Steinbach)

📜 🖋️ A new treaty on the horizon. With 400 million tonnes of plastic being produced every year, countries are increasingly convinced that an international agreement is needed to tackle plastic pollution from its first stages of production all the way to its final stage as waste.

📈 Carbon too expensive too fast. As the EU continues to step up its climate targets, market prices of carbon allowances are expected to more than double in the coming years. But experts worry that this increase is happening too fast and could put too much pressure on major emitting industries that will need time to adapt.

🍃 💵 Greening the debt. The World Bank is in discussions with creditor nations, including the US, China, the UK and Germany, to issue the first nature-linked bonds. These would tie new sovereign debt to biodiversity and carbon emissions targets, meaning that borrowers would be able to pay less in interest if they achieve such targets.

Statista

Coca-Cola was the worst plastic polluter in 2020, according to a global audit of cleanups conducted in 55 countries, with 13,834 pieces of plastic from its products being collected. The NGO Break Free From Plastic analysed over 350,000 items. It was followed by fellow food giants Nestlé, Golgate-Palmolive and Unilever. Between 1950 and 2015, the world produced 8.3bn tonnes of plastic.

📌 1 March | Opportunities with Green Bonds and EU’s Sustainable Finance Reform. A conversation with two experts on climate finance, SDG investing and the growth of the green bonds market.

📌 4 March | Climate Crisis - Out of Balance: Confronting Equity and Sustainability. Sustainability week kicks off in Switzerland, with this opening ceremony bringing together sustainability equity experts from around the globe.