I think it’s a fascinating premise, and it should be discussed more widely. Clearly she is making a point about what we use oil for that isn’t massively contributing to climate change. Clearly the goal should still be to stop burning the stuff, and the methane that is produced as a byproduct of petroleum distillation in such great quantities that most of it is just set on fire.

But using it in plastic packaging isn’t so straightforwardly bad. It’s a huge volume of waste, yes, and it is burned in many places around the world, making it a carbon pollutant. However, if it is stuck in landfill, it largely stays there and does not increase atmospheric carbon levels, certainly not to the extent that burning fossil fuels does.

If we can solve the microplastic problem, which doesn’t seem impossible, and if we can make sure it mostly ends up in landfill instead of littering the environment (which is a big ask) there’s no reason plastics cannot be derived from oil for a long time to come, and not do that much harm.

This will allow us to minimise the damage we cause before we develop the ability to cheaply make plastics from the atmosphere itself, through bioplastics or directly through some chemical synthesis.

Even with carbon-neutral plastic production, we will still need to not litter it all over the place, because it won’t degrade immediately. So we should definitely work on that with current plastics too.