Climate change

The 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP) is due to take place in Antalya, Türkiye from 9 to 20 November 2026 (COP31). COP is the annual forum where the global community agree on the actions to address the climate crisis, including limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C, providing help for vulnerable communities to adapt to the effects of climate change, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was agreed at the Rio Earth Summit in Brazil in 1992 and entered into force in 1994 and this has been progressively built on through further treaties such as the Paris Agreement in 2015. The treaties are legally binding and provide the framework for countries throughout the world to systematically address the threat posed by climate change.

The last COP conference, COP 30, took place in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025 focussing on the support needed by developing nations to protect them from the impacts of climate change and to transition to clean energy. However, it was clear that a wide gap existed between what the evidence indicated would be necessary to reduce global warming and what was being delivered.

This article looks at the challenges faced in the industry with a particular focus on consumer goods and plastic packaging together with measures that will make a meaningful change to protect the long-term sustainability of our planet. It builds on the BRCGS article published last year on Climate Change in the Food Sector.

The background

Climate change is the long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns that arise through a combination of natural processes such as the sun’s activity or volcanic eruptions and the activity of humans. Human activities are believed to be the primary cause of climate change over the last two centuries as a consequence of heavy industrialisation, agricultural intensification and the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil.

Burning fossils fuels releases gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.  These get stuck in the upper atmosphere and create what is called the greenhouse effect, trapping the sun’s heat and gradually increasing the earth’s temperature. You can read much more detail on Climate Change for many sources including the United Nations.

Virtually all aspects of human activity contribute to climate change including industry, agriculture, transport, buildings, land and energy use. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in its Global to Annual to Decadal Climate Update 2026 – 2035 reported that annual global mean near-surface temperatures during 2026–2030 are predicted to range between 1.3°C and 1.9°C above the 1850-1900 average and that there is an 86% chance that one year in the next decade will surpass the warmest year on record. This comes as temperature records were broken across many countries in the summer of 2026 with the UK experiencing its hottest ever summer and data showing that globally, the past 11 years have been the warmest 11 years on record. Global average temperatures in September 2026 were reported to have been at their second highest, at 1.63°C above the pre-industrial level, only surpassed by September 2023 at 1.73°C. These temperature records are driven by the highest recorded level of greenhouse gases and ocean heat. Levels of carbon dioxide have increased from around 278 parts per million (ppm) in 1750 to 425ppm in 2025 (higher than at any time in the last 2 million years) and the long-term rate of sea-level rise increased by an average of 3.64 mm per year since 1999 representing a total increase of 9.38 cm over the past 26 years.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nation’s body for assessing the science related to climate change and it is generally recognised that limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C would prevent the worst climate impacts. However, recent assessments of the impact of current commitments to mitigate climate change by global nations indicate that temperatures will exceed the 1.5°C target within the next few years with an expected peak temperature rise of 1.8°C only being achievable with full implementation of all national climate plans plus meeting additional net-zero targets.

Climate change and the industry

The consumer goods and packaging sectors have a direct impact on climate change and climate change will also increasingly have an impact on these industries. The impact is a consequence, like many other manufacturing sectors, of their large global footprints and resource-dependent supply chains. The majority of these sectors' carbon footprints come from Scope 3 emissions including through raw material extraction / production, agricultural practices, outsourced manufacturing and logistics / transportation. Estimating the actual carbon footprint of these sectors is difficult, but this has been done at a global level across sector and end use.

Consumer goods products and packaging use a large variety of raw materials including chemicals, minerals, paper, paperboard, wood, metal, glass, ceramics and plastic and the main contribution to climate change arises from energy use associated with their production and transportation. Manufacturing and assembly of finished goods also contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions both directly through production processes but mainly through high energy use.

Each raw material type has particular impacts associated with its production but the material most commonly used in consumer products and their packaging is plastic. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its Global Plastics Outlook report, estimated annual production of plastics to have doubled from 234 million tonnes (Mt) in 2000 to 460 Mt in 2019. The same report calculated that plastic generated global annual waste of 353 Mt in 2019, more than double the 156 in 2000. Two-thirds of this plastic waste came from applications with less than a 5-year lifespan, including packaging (40%), consumer products (12%) and textiles (11%). Plastic packaging waste has been estimated to create around 1.8bn tons of carbon emissions a year.

Industries are seeking to move away from plastic packaging, with paper seen as the most environmental alternative for packaging but this has to be balanced with the fact that it takes four times more energy to produce a paper bag than one made of plastic and paper weight increases transportation costs, therefore increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Before the Covid 19 pandemic, research by McKinsey showed sustainability was a top concern and the use of recycled, environmentally friendly packaging led the policies of most retail companies. The Covid-19 pandemic slowed the drive for sustainability as hygiene became a larger consideration, particularly in the food industries.  Eventually the aim is to use alternative strategies such the plant-based bottles, reducing the layers which are hard to separate for recycling or making packaging from compostable materials. There has been a lot of innovation in the last few years that will hopefully be of benefit to the supply chain and the planet.

Paper, paperboard and wood are also common materials for consumer products and packaging and predominantly impact emissions due to deforestation. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) produced an assessment of the trends in forest resources between 1900 to 2025 in its Global Forests Resources Assessment. It reported that 489 million hectares (ha) of forest have been lost to deforestation since 1990 but, more encouragingly, the rate of deforestation decreased to 10.9 million ha per year in 2015-2025, from 13.6 million in the previous decade, and 17.6 million the decade before that. Agriculture has historically accounted for the biggest amount of deforestation for farmed animals and crops but wildfires, climate change-fuelled extreme weather, insects and diseases increasingly pose a threat. Global paper and paperboard consumption was estimated to be 430 Mt in 2024 and this was predicted to increase to 483 Mt by 2032. Packaging consumed the largest proportion of paper and paperboard, estimated at 277 Mt.

Climate change regulation and action

The global community recognises that climate change is a significant risk to society and mitigations have to be identified and implemented internationally. The United Nations broadly defines three pillars of strategic action to address the climate change challenge; cutting emissions (mitigation), adapting to climate impacts (resilience) and financing required adjustments (climate finance). Cutting Emissions requires transformational change in energy, industry, transport, food, agriculture, and forestry systems such as moving from fossil fuels to renewables like solar and wind and cutting global fossil fuel production. Adapting to climate impacts entails protecting people, homes, businesses, ecosystems and infrastructure against inevitable climate consequences through measures such as building flood defences, restoring natural agricultural protections like mangroves and developing and deploying early warning systems. Financing required adjustments focusses on mobilising public and private capital to fund mitigation and adaptation efforts and particularly helping developing nations cover such costs. Uppermost in the international frameworks to tackle the issue are the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, as already detailed.

However, businesses also recognise the critical role they play in this area and the majority develop and operate a sustainability plan that defines goals and measures they adopt to contribute to reducing the impact on climate change. These days, such plans are incorporated into a broader environment, social and governance (ESG) programme. These often include public commitments to reduce carbon emissions, a key driver of climate change through energy efficiency, the use of renewable sources and sourcing sustainable materials such as those of forestry origin, textiles and minerals. Legal obligations now exist in some countries to mandate businesses to make public their plans and progress on climate change such as in the in the UK, where businesses of a certain size (>500 employees or >£500m turnover) must publish an annual report on the climate change governance, risks and opportunities in their annual reports and accounts. Companies above a certain size must also now report on social and environmental risks and how their activities impact people and the environment under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

Legislation is also in force for specific materials. For example, The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR (EU) 2025/40) entered into force on 11 February 2025 and officially became applicable starting 12 August 2026, replacing the old Packaging Directive 94/62/EC. The regulation sets objectives for Member States to reduce per capita packaging waste (compared to 2018 levels) by 5% by 2030, 10% by 2035, and 15% by 2040. It also requires all packaging placed on the EU market to be economically and technically recyclable by 2030 and introduces mandatory minimum percentages of recycled content for plastic packaging by 2030, with stricter targets scaling up by 2040. There are also requirements to limit empty space for e-commerce and transport packaging. The Regulation introduces prohibitions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food-contact packaging, bans specific single-use formats such as shrink wrap for certain products, lightweight plastic carrier bags, single-serve condiment/sauce sachets in the hotel, restaurant, and cafe sector and small hotel-sized shampoo or lotion bottles. There is also harmonised labelling to standardise consumer disposal instructions and extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements whereby businesses placing packaged goods on the EU market (including non-EU exporters) must register with national EPR schemes, report data, and cover waste management costs. As with any regulation that is so broad, there are a number of exceptions for different sized businesses and product uses.

There are also legislative measures in place for timber (EU Timber Regulation; UK Timber Regulations) to ensure the sourcing of materials from traceable and sustainable sources.

In addition, there are industry and non-governmental initiatives targeted at reducing impacts on climate change such as the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) coalitions on Climate Transition, Forest Positive (deforestation) and Plastic Waste (circular economy for plastic) together with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Through WRAP, there are several major initiatives aimed at tackling specific challenges that impact on climate change including the UK Plastics Pact, UK Textiles Pact and the UK Food and Drink Pact (formerly Courtauld Commitment 2030). There are also a number of networks that connect civil society organisations (Climate Action Network, The Climate Coalition).

Reporting and assurance

The consequence of increased voluntary and legislative disclosure of sustainability and ESG plans and progress has been a general concern about the reliability of self-reporting. This has prompted regulators to implement legislation and/or defined rules for reporting with examples including the EU sustainability reporting standard and the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. These regulations build on the standards developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

The development and implementation of strong sustainability and ESG standards within a business can be supported through the adoption of third-party standards with associated audit and certification. The Consumer Goods Forum has developed benchmarking standards that enable such programmes to be assessed against a common benchmark, thereby delivering consistency in sustainability and ESG standards globally. Through the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI), a number of programmes have received recognition against the SSCI benchmark. Other accreditation schemes exist specifically for environmental management including ISO 14001 - Environmental Management System as well as bespoke ESG standards and certification. More general third party assurance programmes that focus on safety, legality and quality management such as the BRCGS Consumer Products Standard (Issue 5) and the BRCGS Packaging Materials Standard (Issue 9) can also play a role in delivering a systematic approach to the identification and management of activities that impact on climate change.

Effective management of climate change impacts are essential for every business in our sector, not least because it can have direct business benefit through reduced energy and raw material use as well as the societal benefit but also because of the potential impact on the sustainability of the business itself. It is increasingly the case that the operation of a business will suffer the direct impacts of climate change through raw material shortages, increased costs including energy and operational disruption from drought, floods and fire.

I hope that this has given you some useful insight on the topic of climate change and helps you navigate your way through. Look out for the next article from BRCGS.