Climate Facts: 99% of seabirds could be eating plastic by 2050

The complexities of climate change and its associated jargon can make it difficult to digest. TheCable’s climate quick facts will help to demystify these climate concepts through easy-to-understand and straight-to-the-point explanations.

Here are some to keep at the tip of your fingers:

1. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says one million plastic bottles are sold every minute across the world, adding to the plastic pollution that ends up in landfills and oceans.

2. Renewable energy and energy efficiency, combined with increased electrification, can provide over 90 percent of the reduction in energy-related carbon emissions, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

3.  Scientists say if plastic pollution is not curbed, 99 percent of the world’s seabirds will be eating plastic by 2050. The researchers, from CSIRO and Imperial College London, estimate that 90 percent of all seabirds alive have eaten plastic of some kind.

4. A report by the World Economic Forum predicts that if plastic pollution continues at the present rate, the plastic in the ocean could outweigh fish. According to the report, “the ocean is expected to contain 1 tonne of plastic for every 3 tonnes of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish (by weight)”.

5. UNEP states that 300 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced annually, and that is nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population.