Why climate goals need capital

The decisions we make today as leaders, institutions, and individuals will shape the world our children inherit tomorrow.
Plastic pollution is no longer an invisible crisis. It is in our streets, rivers, soil, food systems, and even our homes. Every year, the world produces over 400 million tonnes of plastic, and less than 10 percent is recycled. The rest ends up choking the very ecosystems we depend on for survival. 

In Uganda, plastic waste clogs our drainage systems, pollutes Lake Victoria and all other water bodies, harms biodiversity, harms animals, and contributes to urban flooding, putting lives, livelihoods, and national development at risk.

When we speak of Uganda’s bold ten-fold growth strategy aimed at multiplying the country’s economic productivity across key sectors such as Agro-industrialisation, Tourism, Mineral-based industrialisation (including oil and gas), and Science, Technology, and Innovation (including ICT) otherwise known as ATMS, we must confront a critical truth: sustainable growth is impossible without a healthy environment. The health of our environment is incompatible with runaway plastic waste.

Every coffee farmer relying on stable rainfall, every tourism operator showcasing Uganda’s beauty, and every entrepreneur building value chains in agribusiness depends on ecosystems that are clean, fertile, and resilient. But those ecosystems are under threat from growing plastic pollution and climate change, exacerbated by weak waste management infrastructure and limited investment in green alternatives.

The solution lies not only in policy or behaviour change but also sustainable finance.
Catalysing new sustainable finance matters most – in the regions where the financing gap for sustainable growth is greatest, and where aligning with a pathway to a low-carbon future will have a major contribution to the world’s ability to meet the target of net zero by 2050. To this end, we plan to mobilise $300 billion in green and transition finance by 2030.

In 2021, Standard Chartered Group issued a $500 million sustainability bond, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to fund initiatives in green buildings, renewable energy, clean water, and social empowerment. We have helped clients across Africa and Asia to structure green bonds, adopt sustainable supply chains, and fund circular economy models that reduce waste, including plastic waste.

This is the kind of innovation we must bring to Uganda. Uganda can lead in green finance adoption by building an ecosystem that supports recycling infrastructure, biodegradable alternatives, waste-to-energy solutions, and circular economy enterprises that create jobs while tackling plastic pollution.

But we must act on three fronts: offer policy and regulatory incentives, Public-Private collaboration, and community and youth inclusion.

It is possible to end plastic waste if we all commit to execute because this is also a human issue. It is the child in a flooded Kampala slum whose path to school is blocked by plastic-filled trenches, the fisherman on Lake Victoria whose daily catch is tangled in plastic waste, the farmer whose cattle die from ingesting discarded bags, and many others.

The cost of inaction is too high and the time to act is now. 
The opportunity to boldly tackle plastic pollution starts with shifting mindsets. This is not just an environmental issue; it is a leadership and accountability test. Every policymaker, chief executive officer, business owner, and citizen has a role to play. 

With bold leadership, clear goals, and a ‘can-do’ attitude, Uganda can turn the plastic crisis into a catalyst for innovation, sustainable enterprise, and national resilience.

Sanjay Rughani is the chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bank.