By Anders Lorenzen
Climate activists from Greenpeace UK, the activist campaign group, have staged a public stunt aimed at the chemical giant INEOS. They say the fossil fuel and chemical giant is blocking a global plastics treaty.
Activists abseiled from Scotland’s Forth Road Bridge as they blocked an INEOS tanker from delivering fracked gas that the cargo ship had transported from the US to the Scottish Grangemouth petrochemical facility.
Why are Greenpeace targeting INEOS?
According to Greenpeace, INEOS, owned by the richest man in the UK, Jim Ratcliffe, opposes efforts by UN member states to secure a Global Plastics Treaty to curb plastic pollution. The group says that during the most recent UN negotiations for the treaty in Geneva, Switzerland, the company, along with other influential companies in the fossil fuel and chemical sector, deployed hundreds of lobbyists to block the treaty.
According to Greenpeace, the lobbyists have deployed tactics ranging from intimidation to harassment.
Ahead of the fifth and final round of negotiations, Greenpeace is calling for the UN to ban INEOS lobbyists and other fossil fuel and chemical giant lobbying activities between August 5th and 14th.
Additionally, they call for a deal that would cut global plastic production by at least 75% by 2040.
Greenpeace: INEOS is spearheading the global plastics crisis
Ten climbers from Greenpeace confronted the giant INEOS tanker ‘INDEPENDENCE’, which had spent the last ten days crossing the Atlantic carrying 27,500 cubic metres of ethane bound for Grangemouth, where the company will use it to produce virgin plastic.
Commenting on the decision to target INEOS, Amy Cameron, Programme Director at Greenpeace UK, said: “Plastic pollution has reached a crisis point: it’s poisoning our land, seas, air, even our bodies. The Global Plastics Treaty offers us a once-in-a-generation chance to tackle the problem for good, so it’s no surprise INEOS and its billionaire boss, Jim Ratcliffe, are doing everything they can to stop it.”
Coincidentally, the Greenpeace action came as the world’s biggest cycling race, the Tour de France, was reaching its final stages and on the same day, Thymen Arensman won the first and only win for INEOS Grenadiers in the three-week stage race. Greenpeace labelled INEOS’ investment in sports sponsorship as a distraction from its business activities:
“Ratcliffe tries to distract us with sports teams and sponsorships, but we’re not going to let him fill our planet with plastic, so he can fill his pockets with profit. Ratcliffe is trying to block a strong Global Plastics Treaty, so today we’re blocking him,” Cameron said.
The protest also came when global attention was directed towards Scotland, as Donald Trump paid a private visit.
According to Greenpeace, over the past three years, INEOS Energy has made investments exceeding $3bn in the US oil and gas sector, and the US petrochemicals industry is investing heavily in new chemical and plastics production projects. The environmental activist group said that, like INEOS, US fossil fuel giants are attempting to weaken the Global Plastics Treaty to avoid caps on virgin plastic production.
Who are INEOS?
INEOS was one of the players actively lobbying the UK government not to ban fracking.
They have also been accused of greenwashing and sportswashing. They have ploughed billions of investments into sports, including cycling, sailing, running, and motorsports, to mention a few, with the ambition of diverting people from their business activities.
Ratcliffe himself is a controversial individual, having migrated from London to the tax haven of Monaco to avoid paying UK taxes.
INEOS is one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies. In 2019, it produced 22,300 tons of chemicals and says it generates about $60bn of profits annually.
The petrochemicals industry is highly carbon-intensive and often neglected in the emission-cut debate.
INEOS does not disclose the overall emissions its business is responsible for. However, its largest facility, Grangemouth, emitted over 3.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2019.
On Saturday, July 26th, the Greenpeace activists stepped down after blocking the Forth Road Bridge for 24 hours.
Cameron labelled the protest successful: “We’ve achieved what we set out to. By blocking INEOS, we’ve drawn global attention to the company’s bottomless appetite for plastic production, false solutions and profit for its billionaire boss Jim Ratcliffe.”
Anders Lorenzen is the founding Editor of A greener life, a greener world.
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Categories: activism, Energy, plastics, Pollution, UK