The analysis found that between 2015 and 2019, banks provided USD $1.7 trillion of financing to 40 key actors in the plastics supply chain. That equates to USD $790 million each day.
Not a single bank among the 20 have imposed any requirements to tackle plastic pollution. This is despite the fact that unrecycled plastic ends up polluting the planet. It can take hundreds or thousands of years to decompose. Ingestion of plastic kills one million marine birds every year and 100,000 marine animals.
Yet, the report finds that if just a small number of banks made their lending contingent on plastic pollution-reducing policies, the impact would be significant. Similarly, legislative measures, like lender liability, can be highly impactful. This is the case even if their implementation covers a small number of regions initially.
