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The big question for 2018 is whether last year's troubling trends for environment and development - rising global carbon emissions, multiple billion-dollar natural disasters, U.S. President Donald Trump's abandonment of climate action - will continue or turn in a more positive direction. As WRI President and CEO Andrew Steer noted during the Stories to Watch event in Washington on January 10, 2018, developments across several key topics will determine the answer.

Consumer demand, advances in material technology and legislation will push sustainable packaging to a $244 billion market by 2018, according to report by Smithers Para. The "Future of Sustainable Packaging to 2018" report found awareness among consumers is driving demand for sustainability, particularly packaging that has a smaller environmental footprint.

Environmental risks, which have grown in prominence over the 13-year history of the Global Risks Report, are an area of particular concern. The Global Risks Report 2018 looks at five categories of environmental risks: extreme weather events and temperatures; accelerating biodiversity loss; pollution of air, soil and water; failures of climate change mitigation and adaptation; and risks linked to the transition to low carbon. All of these risks ranked highly on both dimensions of likelihood and impact.

The following are five trends we expect to unfold during 2018. Yes, you could argue we're playing it safe - like the typical horoscope or fortune teller, these predictions overall are fairly broad. Nevertheless, expect to see many headlines focused on these topics in the coming year, here on 3p and elsewhere.

BCC Research reports the global market for anaerobic digestors and landfill gas equipment was estimated at nearly $4.5 billion for 2013. Its study, Waste-Derived Biogas: Global Markets for Anaerobic Digestion Equipment, projects the market to grow to $7 billion by 2018, and register a five-year compound annual growth rate of 9.4 percent 2013 to 2018.

Procter & Gamble has reached zero manufacturing waste to landfill at 85% of their sites globally and describes how they did it in a 2018 Citizenship Report published today. The company started the program a decade ago, and currently aims to achieve 100% by 2020.

It's been almost exactly one year since the world's most valuable technology company declared its intention to make future iPhones and MacBooks entirely out of recycled materials. And behold: Just in time for Earth Day 2018, Apple is introducing the latest manufacturing innovation that it believes will help the company automate its way toward that goal.

Supply chain data gaps have inspired numerous industry-led initiatives dedicated to massive supply chain data-gathering and sharing projects, such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), and it has inspired dozens of cloud services specializing in traceability, ranging from EcoVadis to SourceMap. And barely one month into 2018, several of these tools are attaining new levels of maturity and transparency.

Surprisingly, there are a small percentage of TV meteorologists that express skepticism on climate change. On the June 21, 2018 Summer Solstice, over 100 meteorologists will wear an item of clothing like the tie below. This pattern could not be more simple... red for warmer temperatures than normal, blue for cooler than normal from 1850 to 2017.

The story that should dominate every end of year round up from every media outlet on the planet came last month in the form of two reports released at the U.N. climate summit in Bonn. The first confirmed atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide are at their highest levels in at least 800,000 years and possibly 3 million to 5 million years. As Emily Shuckburgh of the British Antarctic Survey said, the last time concentrations of greenhouse gas were as high as they are, sea levels were around 10 meters higher. Up to two meters of sea level rise this century is now entirely plausible. However, the second report was the real kicker. The Global Carbon Project predicted carbon emissions will rise this year after four years when flat emissions fuelled hopes global economic growth and carbon emissions had been decoupled

Lens Technology has agreed to use 100% renewables to produce all of its products it manufacturers for Apple in China, according to the companies. The company has already signed a long-term power purchase agreement that will supply 100% of its electricity needs by 2018.

Developer FivePoint has a new plan to reduce carbon emissions at its proposed $12.7 billion master-planned community in California's Los Angeles County after a court blocked the project on environmental grounds. The company hopes to begin construction in 2018 and will implement zero-net-energy construction when it builds the 21,500 homes, each of which will have a charging station for electric vehicle.

Trudeau (Chris Jackson/Getty Images) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will implement nationwide carbon emissions pricing in 2018. According to Trudeau's plan, provinces will be charged CA$10 per metric ton of carbon emissions produced, which will increase to CA$50 per metric ton during 2023.

All trains in the Netherlands have been running completely on renewable wind energy since Jan. 1. Dutch transportation companies originally set a goal date of 2018 to implement 100% wind energy, but they completed the goal one year ahead of schedule.

The adidas Group sourced 43% of its cotton from sustainable sources in 2015, surpassing its 40% "Better Cotton" target. The company plans to source 100% of its cotton from sustainable sources by 2018.

Starting this year, Unilever is voluntarily disclosing online the fragrance ingredients included in individual products sold in the U.S. and Europe, down to 0.01 percent of the product formulation, along with details of the scent the fragrance ingredients bring to the product. The project is to be completed by 2018.

AT&T says it has reached the halfway mark of its commitment to invest up to $565 million to deploy about 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles over the course of a 10-year period through 2018.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be elephant-free by 2018, with the troupe's 13 performing pachyderms sent into retirement at a Florida conservation center. The move is a response to growing consumer concerns about the animals' welfare, coupled with the prospect of local bans on elephant performances. "It's a shame this took so long, but it's a creditable step toward treating animals with respect and dignity," writes Andrew Revkin

The Adidas Group sourced more than 30% of its cotton from sustainable sources in 2014, which surpassed its 25% "Better Cotton" target. The company plans to source 100% of its cotton from sustainable sources by 2018.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has announced a long-term seafood sustainability strategy in partnership with WWF - to increase its procurement of responsibly sourced seafood and eliminate the procurement of highly vulnerable seafood species. For the first phase of the partnership, Hyatt has set an initial goal of responsibly sourcing more than 50 percent of its inventory by 2018.