For a week, in Pusan (South Korea), the nations of the world tried to agree on a treaty to limit plastic pollution that was becoming a major ecological crisis. In vain. The countries which pleaded for an ambitious text, which sets out in black and white an objective of reducing the production of plastic at the source, denounce the obstruction of the few oil and gas producing countries which do not intend to give up a strategic outlet for their hydrocarbons.
Any resemblance to the dynamics of international climate conferences for years is absolutely not coincidental. Oil and gas are the main raw material for producing virgin plastic, and the same countries that refuse to consider an international goal to phase out fossil fuels – such as Saudi Arabia and its allies in India, China, Iran or Russia – also refuse any prospect of phasing out, or even limiting, plastic.
« Usual suspects »
Exactly in the same way that UN climate conferences are increasingly invaded by lobbyists representing the fossil fuel sector (read our article), the Pusan summit was marked by the strong presence of industrialists. According to the Center for International Environmental Law, 220 representatives from the hydrocarbons and chemicals sector were accredited to the conference, more than the delegations from the European Union and all its member states (which are instead defending an ambitious treaty on this topic).
On the one hand, the multinationals concerned are the same as for the climate, such as ExxonMobil or TotalEnergies, which have their own plastic production facilities. The others – like BASF, Dow or the French Arkema – are in the chemicals sector. As observed in the climate COPs, some of these plastic lobbyists are even integrated into the official national delegations of countries such as China, Egypt, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Peru.
“Change the conversation”
Rather than an objective of limiting plastic, the oil and gas countries and the multinationals concerned are pleading for an international treaty which would emphasize waste management and recycling. Problem: for most plastics, there is currently no viable solution and there probably never will be one. And will palliative efforts ever be enough if the world continues to be invaded each year by millions of additional tons of plastic?
Figures recently revealed by Unearthed, Greenpeace’s investigation arm, allow us to take stock of this illusion – or, if we prefer, this scam. In 2019, several multinationals including Dow (which holds the presidency), ExxonMobil, Shell, ChevronPhillips and TotalEnergies launched the “Alliance to End Plastic Waste”, Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Since its creation, it has helped collect 118,500 tonnes of plastic waste which no longer pollutes the natural environment.
Good news then? Not really. First, Alliance multinationals had initially promised to collect 15 million tonnes – a commitment quietly abandoned. Then this plastic was landfilled, burned or recycled using polluting processes. Finally, according to data collected by Unearthed, these five groups produced over the same period 132 million new tonnes of just two types of plastic, polyethylene and polypropylene, a considerable part of which will end up again in the environment.
Documents from a PR firm linked to the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, also revealed by Unearthed, show that it was precisely designed to “change the conversation” about plastic and offer an alternative to the ban pure and simple. Behind the failure of Pusan as behind the far too slow progress of the climate conferences, we find the same actors and the same strategies.
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Photo : Alain Bachelier cc by-nc-sa via flickr
