Plastic Treaty, TNFD, GRI, CDP: Are You Ready to Disclose Your Plastic ESG Data?
Welcome to Suits & Tides, the sustainability newsletter with more knowledge than microplastics in the ocean! In this episode, we discuss the evolving landscape of ESG frameworks and international policy, particularly the UN Plastic Treaty, for businesses to transparently measure, reduce, and account for plastic across their entire value chain.
Despite growing public awareness and horrifying images of marine life entangled in debris, corporate sustainability teams often found themselves focused elsewhere - decarbonisation strategies, water stress metrics, biodiversity risks.
Plastic/ waste management was “on the list,” yes, but rarely material to their compliance checklist fulfillment mechanism. It was too complex, too distributed, too difficult to measure, and in many ways, too easy to ignore.
Well, that’s finally changing.
In the span of just a few months, we’ve witnessed a quiet but unmistakable shift - a convergence of global frameworks, disclosure standards, and international treaties - all pointing toward the fact that plastic is no longer a fringe issue. It is now a material concern for corporate disclosure, ESG compliance, and long-term business risk.
The ESG Landscape Plastic Facelift
In June 2025, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) formally added ‘plastic pollution’ to its list of core disclosure metrics, bringing it into the same regulatory scope as deforestation and water stress. Companies are now expected to use TNFD’s LEAP framework to map plastic-related risks and dependencies across their value chains - and disclose them accordingly.
In parallel, other existing ESG reporting systems are becoming more stringent. GRI’s Waste Standard (GRI 306: 2020) now demands detailed reporting on the volume, fate, and impact of waste - including plastics - across the value chain. And GRI 301: Materials requires organisations to disclose data on plastic inputs, recycled content, and the recoverability of packaging and products. These are not symbolic inclusions - they are clear indicators that plastic-related metrics have entered mainstream ESG accountability.
Likewise, CDP, the world’s most widely used environmental disclosure platform, has begun integrating plastic-related data fields into its questionnaires (W10 Plastics Disclosures), prompted by pressure from institutional investors and stakeholders demanding greater transparency around material waste flows and circularity efforts.
Together, these frameworks are not just nudging companies toward better behaviour. They’re creating an ESG infrastructure in which plastic is now a first-order issue - measurable, reportable, and increasingly subject to scrutiny.
The Plastic Treaty Will Set the Baseline for Further Global Policy Developments
These shifts in disclosure frameworks are now being matched by a powerful, global-level policy push. The UN International Plastic Treaty, currently in its fifth round of negotiations (INC-5.2) in Geneva, is on course to become the most consequential environmental treaty since the Paris Agreement.
And as of August 8, 2025, the message from the negotiating floor is unambiguous.
Over 170 countries, 3,700 participants, and hundreds of observers are engaged in debates that are steadily converging around a core principle: plastic must be regulated across its entire life cycle - from production to end-of-life.
The most contentious discussions - such as the introduction of production caps, financial responsibility mechanisms, and just transition provisions - all point toward a high-ambition treaty with enforceable obligations, not just voluntary targets.
Observers and civil society groups have made their expectations clear:
Cap virgin plastic production.
Ensure corporate transparency on plastic flows.
Mandate Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) systems.
Secure financing for frontline and developing countries.
Embed just transition protections for workers in the informal sector.
The treaty negotiations are still ongoing and may not finalise all points in one stroke. But what’s clear is that the era of unregulated plastic growth is ending. Businesses, especially those in plastics-intensive sectors, should be preparing not just for reporting - but for compliance.
“I’m hoping INC 5.2 delivers the first real international action, tangible steps that move us closer to a global solution for the plastic pollution crisis. We don’t expect this first iteration to be perfect or comprehensive enough to solve the problem outright. But we do see it as a critical inflexion point, an opportunity to lay the foundation for meaningful change. The world can’t wait any longer for bold, coordinated policy. For organisations like ours working on the frontlines, progress at this level sends a clear signal that global governance is finally catching up to global impact.”
Tom Peacock-Nazil [Founder & CEO - Seven Clean Seas]
Voluntary to Mandatory: Businesses Must Align and Adapt
Historically, companies were applauded for simply having a plastic strategy. But under this new regime, plastic stewardship will become a regulatory requirement, not a reputational bonus.
Across ESG frameworks and international negotiations, the direction is consistent:
Plastic use will need to be measured, audited, and disclosed
Reductions will need to be targeted and tracked
Supply chains will need to be redesigned for circularity
Waste systems will need to be accounted for, and possibly co-financed
This requires a fundamental shift from downstream, reactive measures to upstream, systemic action. Businesses can no longer afford to view plastic pollution as someone else’s problem or as a future concern. It is now an urgent governance, compliance, and materiality issue.
The convergence of ESG standards and global policy is creating a new norm: plastic transparency, traceability, and accountability. The TNFD, GRI, CDP, and the International Plastic Treaty are not isolated developments - they are signposts of a new regulatory era.
Plastic can no longer be peripheral to your ESG strategy.
The organisations that begin adapting now - embedding plastic metrics, aligning with lifecycle regulation, and rethinking material use - will be those best positioned to thrive in a world where plastic pollution is no longer tolerated as an externality, but treated as a priority for action.
Because in the months and years ahead, the question will not be whether your business addresses plastic. It will be how transparently, how urgently, and how effectively you did it.
Seven Clean Seas has been doing this for 7+ years
In this new era of plastic disclosure, reduction, and regulatory alignment, organisations cannot afford to go it alone. The demands are growing: measure and reduce your plastic footprint, report it with confidence, reduce it meaningfully, and contribute to global plastic waste management efforts. This is no longer just about ticking ESG boxes and - it’s about delivering measurable, transparent, and verifiable action.
And, Seven Clean Seas has mastered this art over time.
We are a mission-driven organisation built for exactly this moment. We’re not only recovering millions of kilograms of plastic from the environment and generating fair and formal employment for hundreds of people - but we’re also helping companies across industries measure, reduce, and recover plastic in line with both global ESG frameworks and the forthcoming UN treaty.
From plastic footprint assessments, waste audits to waste reduction strategies and plastic credit solutions, we offer a full lifecycle approach to corporate plastic stewardship.
For instance, since 2021, The Economist Group has partnered with us to drive down their plastic footprint. By 2024, they had already reduced it by over 50%, a milestone proudly shared in their 2024 ESG report - a simple and direct example of what ambitious, science-based reduction looks like in practice.
What also sets Seven Clean Seas apart is our direct ownership and operation of plastic recovery projects in some of the most critically impacted areas of the world - including Indonesia and Thailand, with more expansion on the way. These projects are professionally managed, third-party certified, and annually audited, with all recovered plastic transparently tracked and published via our proprietary impact platform, Periscope.
This infrastructure allows our partners to:
Account for their plastic use and disposal transparently
Leverage a data-first strategy to effectively reduce plastic use (trust us - we know what actually works and what doesn’t).
Contribute directly to systems change in communities where waste management is fragmented or absent
In short, we help businesses go beyond reporting - to real-world impact, aligned with both regulatory expectations and the values of their stakeholders.
Our work has not only been recognised through awards and global praise - it’s been validated by the outcomes we’ve helped our clients achieve. This track record, combined with our end-to-end capabilities and unwavering transparency, makes Seven Clean Seas the most trusted partner in the fight against plastic pollution.
As regulatory pressure mounts and plastic disclosure becomes the new ESG baseline, it’s become quite clear that the time to act on this is now.
Reach out - let’s have that first chat.
Email us at hello@sevencleanseas.com (we’ll get back to you in 2-3 days max).
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