Is the WEF’s carbon neutral example enough?

Statement from Ranjit Baxi, Founding President of the Global Recycling Foundation

23 January 2020

“This week Greta Thunberg took central stage in Davos, at the World Economic Forum (WEF); the world’s leaders and press sitting up and taking notice of the dire warnings from a 16 year old school girl, who continues to present overwhelming scientific facts proving the dire state of the climate emergency. She implores us to treat this critical climate crisis with the importance it deserves. We are, she says, fast running out of time to act on climate change, even to give us just a 67% chance of keeping the global temperature rise to below 1.5%.

“As we face this climate emergency of unprecedented proportions, the Global Recycling Foundation applauds the WEF for all that it’s doing to make the annual meeting carbon-neutral. The 2020 event’s menu is now at least 50% plant-based and one day is solely dedicated to vegetarian food. Regarding transport, event cars and buses are now 88% hybrid, compared to 66% in 2019. Additionally, there will be free shuttles, public buses and discounted train tickets on offer and the Forum is completely removing single-use plastic for beverages and bags. But is it enough?

“Time is ticking, we have uncomfortable choices to make, and we need a leader like WEF to continue their efforts and inspire organizations around the world to follow suit. In order to make a splash to mitigate the climate emergency’s catastrophic effects, we need to turn a ripple of change into a wave and ensure that the positive impact of recycling is heard.”