The World Economic Forum estimates by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Our planet is at plastic capacity.

We need to act now.

Global leaders were meeting in Paris, France for negotiations on a globally binding agreement to stem the flow of new plastic. Not being allowed in the room, we needed to generate enough noise and public pressure around the discussions to influence their outcome.

With the possibility of the world's first plastic treaty on offer, the Minderoo Foundation tasked us with making accelerating plastic production and pollution impossible to ignore.

We needed to ensure a strong outcome of INC-2 in Paris, and drown out the voices of big-spending plastic lobbyists who make change near impossible. To do that, we needed to spark public outrage, and visualise the problem in a way that made it impossible to ignore.

To infiltrate culture and spark a reaction from the general public, not just delegates, we attached the devastating effects of plastic production to something the lobbyists at ‘big plastic’ couldn’t control. The weather.

The Plastic Forecast introduces the world's first plastic weather metric.

The forecast measures the amount of plastic in daily rainfall, allowing anyone to see the weight of our plastic problem. It combines landmark data on atmospheric plastic research with real-time weather data to provide a daily estimate of ‘plastic rain’ - in kilograms.

Scientists at the Minderoo Foundation were able to verify the data, applying it to the metropolitan area of France, allowing us to inject real-time weather data to create a live Plastic Forecast for Paris throughout the UN's negotiations.

It was launched on the eve of the talks, with French news networks including our Plastic Forecast in their daily weather reports for the entire week. A typically untouchable media channel.

On the ground, we targeted those in and around the negotiations in France, with daily weather report integration, weather-activated outdoor, data-driven targeting around UNESCO, and real-time, contextual digital on weather websites such as Meteo France, France's biggest weather source.

The public was encouraged to check the forecast online, and help change it.

Given the relatively low visibility of the Minderoo Foundation in France, it was imperative to enlist a credible spokesperson whom the French public would readily recognise from traditional weather reports and trust implicitly on matters of sustainable development.

We found the perfect ambassador in Chloé Nabédian, a famous TV weather presenter, and climate activist/journalist, who not only became the face of the initiative at several press and media events, but also leveraged her personal network to connect us with France's biggest news networks, who integrated our Plastic Forecast into their daily weather reports, making it impossible for the public to ignore the weight of the problem any longer.

We looked into ways to bring the Plastic Forecast to like-minded audiences, from launching it at the ChangeNow summit alongside the France Minister for Ecology, to presenting it in front of ecologically-minded young people at We Love Green Festival.

With more than 2350 media mentions, we reached more than 1.3 billion in less than two weeks. Global publications such as Huffpost labelled the innovative solution "a timely initiative", ScienceAlert described it as "pioneering work", and France's Minister for Ecology declared it a "major scientific advance" at the ChangeNow Climate Summit in Paris.

On World Environment Day, the UN itself co-signed our initiative.

Then, despite the lobbyists, the world's first plastic treaty was drafted. 30 countries making a new commitment to reduce their production. A strong outcome.

Although launched in Paris, The Plastic Forecast is more than a campaign, it's a globally scalable weapon reminding world leaders of the daily weight of inaction.

As the treaty takes shape through a phased approach, the same science can be applied to any city (and has since been seen in Ottawa), so The Plastic Forecast may serve as a visceral reminder of our horrific plastic problem, and the motivation we need to change it.

Visit https://plasticforecast.today/ to check today's forecast.