Plastic is bad for people and the planet. Therefore the plastic crisis must be tackled at the source, i.e. less plastic must be made.

Yet banks in Belgium keep financing plastic production. Between 2016-2021 ING, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, KBC Bank & Verzekering, and Belfius invested nearly 3 billion euros in INEOS and Borealis.

They invested in chemical giant INEOS to set up a new plastic project in Antwerp Port called Project One.

They also supported Borealis which is already building a new plastic plant in Antwerp port.

These projects produce the building blocks of plastic and lock us into a future of decades of plastic production.

Producing these building blocks is hugely polluting to the environment and the climate - contrary to what these chemical giants want us to believe.

The production process relies on fossil fuels and emits volumes of CO2 at a time where we must move away from fossil fuels to stay below 1.5 degrees of global warming. These plastic projects also consume enormous amounts of energy, in a period of usurious prices and energy scarcity. Plus there are major economic risks associated with investing in plastic production. There is already a global overproduction of plastic and upcoming legislation will restrict its use even more.

PMV, the Flemish government's investment fund, has granted a guarantee of between 250-500 million euros to Project One. As a result, the Flemish taxpayer is taking a significant part of the risk of this project on its shoulders.

INEOS already had to put half of Project One on hold last year. What was triumphantly announced a few years ago as the largest investment in European petrochemicals in the last 20 years threatens to cost the Flemish taxpayer dearly.

With this report, FairFin wants to put pressure on banks to stop investing in companies that expand plastic production.

We also ask the federal government to take their responsibility as a shareholder of BNP Paribas and owner of Belfius.

https://lnkd.in/e3Aesdbb

Cindy Forde Bianca Pitt