Ending Plastic Pollution: Why Uganda’s Climate Goals Depend on Sustainable Finance Plastic pollution is not just an environmental threat—it’s a barrier to Uganda’s economic transformation. In this compelling World Environment Day op-ed, Sanjay Rughani, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Uganda, makes a passionate case for sustainable finance as the linchpin for tackling Uganda’s plastic crisis and achieving its ambitious 10X growth strategy. From clogged drainage systems to disrupted ecosystems, the cost of inaction is high. But with green innovation, public-private collaboration, and bold leadership, Uganda can turn the tide—creating jobs, protecting biodiversity, and building a resilient, inclusive future.

As we mark this year’s World Environment Day under the theme “Ending Global Plastic Pollution”, we are reminded that the choices we make today as leaders, institutions and individuals will define the world our children inherit tomorrow.

Plastic pollution is no longer an invisible crisis. It’s on our streets, in our rivers, our soil, our food systems, and even in our homes. Every year, the world produces over 400 million tonnes of plastic, and less than 10% 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 10X strategy aimed at multiplying our economic productivity across key sectors like Agro-industrialization, Tourism, Mineral-based industrialization (including oil & 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. And 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, 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 just in policy or behaviour change but also in sustainable finance.

At Standard Chartered, we continue to play a leading role in sustainable finance; our approach brings together three themes:

• We strive to be a responsible company, managing the potential negative impact of our activities through strong environmental, social and governance risk filters with an experienced and well-established Environmental and Social Risk Management team.
• We believe in the power finance can have in generating inclusive communities. Our dedicated Sustainable Finance team brings together our experience and expertise in managing environmental, social and governance risks with our ability to spot opportunities and structure solutions to maximise the positive impact potential of our financing.
• Finally, we are focused on where we believe 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 USD 300bn in green and transition finance by 2030.

In 2021, Standard Chartered Group issued a USD 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 urgently 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.

To make this happen, we must act on three fronts: offer policy and regulatory incentives, Public-Private collaboration and Community and youth inclusion.

We know it is possible to end plastic waste if we all commit to it because this is also a human issue. It’s 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. 

These stories remind us that the cost of inaction is too high and the time to act is now.

Uganda doesn’t have to wait for the world, we can lead. The opportunity to boldly tackle plastic pollution is right in front of us, and it starts with shifting mindsets. This isn’t just an environmental issue; it’s a leadership and accountability test. Every policymaker, CEO, business owner, and citizen has a role to play. We must stop asking who will act and start saying, “We will.” 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.

Happy World Environment Day!