Progressive reduction of fossil fuel-based plastics is crucial to tackling climate change, the EU's top environmental official said, ahead of a United Nations meeting to launch talks on a world-first treaty to combat plastic pollution.
Plastics production is becoming a key growth area for the oil industry as countries seek to shift away from polluting energy sources, but plastic waste is piling up in the world's oceans and urban waterways and choking its wildlife.
"If we want to reach our decarbonisation goals for 2050, clearly we have to decrease steadily the use of fossil fuels, and one of the areas here as well is plastics," he told Reuters in an interview.
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