Pollution from Ineos’s Antwerp plastic plant ‘will cause more deaths than jobs created’ | Ineos
Deaths from pollution caused by Europe’s largest plastics factory, under construction in Antwerp, will exceed the number of permanent jobs it will create, lawyers say in a legal challenge handed down Thursday.
In documents submitted to the court, research suggests that air pollution from Ineos’s €4 billion petrochemical plant would cause 410 deaths once operational, compared to the 300 permanent jobs the company says will be created.
Lawyers, community members and financial experts are taking legal action to the Belgian Council over permit disputes to stop the plastic factory.
The chemical plant would convert ethane from fracked US shale gas into ethylene – the raw material used to make plastic – in a process called “cracking”. The factory, called Project One, is designed to boost European plastic production. Petrochemical installations emit particles as a result of their activities.
Plastic production has increased more than 200-fold since 1950 and is expected to almost triple again to more than a billion tonnes per year by 2060, largely driven by single-use plastics used for packaging and containers for drinks and food products.
Tatiana Luján, of Client Earth, which is leading the case, said new evidence showed that in addition to the risks to life, Project One’s carbon emissions would far exceed Ineos’ own estimates.
The Ineos assessment found that projected direct annual carbon emissions would amount to 655,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), roughly the same as Eritrea’s production. But lawyers say the company failed to calculate emissions over the entire life cycle.
A Data Desk report submitted to the court estimates that the emissions footprint of the entire Project One supply chain could reach 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year, around five times more than stated in Ineos’ environmental impact assessment.
Luján said: “We know categorically that we no longer need plastic production infrastructure on a global scale. Yet, right here in Europe, authorities are bending over backwards to enable the largest plastic production facility to date on the continent.
“Project One has a shiny image, but its story is built on fossil fuels. The gas supply chain is riddled with injustice and huge emissions and this is currently going unnoticed. Meanwhile, experts have detailed a projected local impact that Belgians are unaware of.”
Since the legal battle began, courts around the world have clarified the inclusion of so-called Scope 3 emissions in environmental impact assessments. These are emissions that do not occur on site but would not be created if the facility did not exist.
Luján added: “Recent decisions on how authorities should assess the real impact of industrial developments change the outlook for this legal challenge. This is the first time that a court will rule on scope 3 and plastics. This makes it a crucial case.
Ineos told the Guardian that they had not been officially informed of the appeal or received the appeal and were therefore unable to comment in detail on the arguments. “We are disappointed that NGOs have once again chosen to take legal action, despite our invitation to engage in dialogue on their concerns. It is also regrettable that the legal certainty of investments in industrial renewal in Europe is constantly being undermined. This occurs in a context where our European manufacturing industry is heading towards further deindustrialization, due to a lack of protection against increased imports from regions that are not subject to strict environmental regulations.”
They added that they remained fully committed to the project:
“Europe’s most environmentally friendly steam cracker, with carbon emissions less than half those of the most efficient European facilities. »
