Pollution from Ineos’s Antwerp plastic plant ‘will cause more deaths than jobs created’
The deaths from pollution caused by Europe’s biggest plastic plant, which is being built in Antwerp, will outstrip the number of permanent jobs it will create, lawyers will argue in a court challenge issued on Thursday,In documents submitted to the court, research suggests the air pollution from Ineos’s €4bn petrochemical plant would cause 410 deaths once operational, compared with the 300 permanent jobs the company says will be created,Lawyers, community members and financial experts are taking court action in Belgium’s council for permit disputes to stop the plastics facility,The chemical plant would transform ethane from fracked US shale gas into ethylene – the raw material used to make plastic – in a process called “cracking”,The plant, called Project One, is designed to turbocharge European plastic production.
Petrochemical facilities emit particulate matter as a result of their operations.Plastic production has increased more than 200-fold since 1950 and is expected to almost triple again to more than a billion tonnes a year by 2060, driven largely by single-use plastics used for packaging and drink and food containers.Tatiana Luján, of Client Earth, who is leading the case, said new evidence showed that in addition to the risks to life, the carbon emissions of Project One would vastly exceed Ineos’s own estimates.Ineos’s assessment found that projected direct annual carbon emissions would be 655,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), roughly the same as Eritrea’s output.But lawyers say the company failed to calculate full lifecycle emissions.
A report by Data Desk submitted to the court estimates the full supply chain emissions footprint of Project One could reach 3.8m tonnes of CO2e each year, around five times higher than stated in Ineos’s environmental impact assessment.Luján said: “We know categorically that we need no more plastic-producing infrastructure globally.Yet right here in Europe, authorities are bending over backwards to enable the biggest plastics facility on the continent yet.“Project One has a shiny image, but its story is founded on fossil fuels.
The gas supply chain is riddled with injustice and huge emissions and this is currently flying under the radar.Meanwhile, experts have detailed a projected local impact that people in Belgium are not being made aware 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 happen on-site but would not be created if the facility did not exist.Luján added: “Recent rulings on how authorities need to tally up the real impact of industrial developments change the prospects of this legal challenge.
This is the first time a court will weigh in on scope 3 and plastics.That makes it a crucial case.”Ineos told the Guardian they had not been officially notified of the appeal, or received the appeal so were unable to comment in detail on the arguments.“We are disappointed that the NGOs have once again chosen to take legal action, despite our invitation to them to engage in dialogue about their concerns.It is also regrettable that the legal certainty of investments in the renewal of industry in Europe is repeatedly being undermined.
This is happening in a context where our European manufacturing industry is heading for further deindustrialisation, due to a lack of protection against rising imports from regions that are not subject to strict environmental regulations.”They added that they remain fully committed to the project:“the most environmentally friendly steam cracker in Europe, with carbon emissions less than half those of the most efficient European installations.”
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He had one job. ONE. JOB. Well, technically there might have been two, but we’ll come to that later. But one main job
Letter: Prunella Scales obituary
Prunella Scales was not only a brilliant comic and dramatic actor, she was a great, deeply political citizen.As an active, and often leading, member of her trade union, Equity, she demonstrated solid commitment to, and earned respect from, her fellow professionals. And, like her beloved husband, Tim West, she was a dedicated member of the Labour party.She also supported CND, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Anti-Nazi League and the women of mining communities, as well as undertaking extensive charity work. She would say: “Sometimes, dear, it’s useful to stand up and show that you are taking action and not acting
Reeves refuses to say she will stick to manifesto pledge on tax rises and insists she must face world ‘as it is’ – as it happened
It is probably now all but certain that Rachel Reeves will break Labour’s manifesto promises and put up income tax in the budget. That is where the commentariat consensus is, five hours after the chancellor’s speech this morning.That is not something we can report yet as fact. But the hints in the speech this morning went beyond “the clearest sign yet (that income tax will rise)”, to use one of the essential cliches of political journalism.There is a category of information where something isn’t quite a fact, but it is so widely assumed to be right that it might just as well be
Reeves wants to talk about the budget, but she’s taken a vow of white noise | John Crace
It’s this season’s fashion accessory for every politician. Outside election campaigns, press conferences usually signal major set piece events or a national emergency. Now you can’t move for them. Reform have had four inside a week with another one lined up for tomorrow. Even Kemi Badenoch has been at it with a bizarre outdoors show-and-tell last Thursday
French taxi driver cleared of stealing from David Lammy after fare dispute
A French taxi driver accused of stealing money and luggage from David Lammy has been acquitted due to lack of evidence, a prosecutor said.Nassim Mimun, 40, drove the deputy prime minister and his wife, Nicola Green, more than 600km (370 miles) from Forli, near Bologna in northern Italy, to the ski resort of Flaine in the French Alps on 11 April.But at the end of the journey the “tone escalated” over the cost of the fare, the Bonneville prosecutor Boris Duffau said in May.The driver, from the south-eastern city of Avignon, then left with his passengers’ bags in the boot of his car. “He dropped them off the next day at a municipal police station” but that was considered theft due to the length of time he had them in his possession, Duffau said
Starmer was briefed on Mandelson’s Epstein links before appointing him, say civil servants
Keir Starmer was briefed on details of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein before he decided to make him US ambassador, senior civil servants have said.The prime minister received a Cabinet Office report that contained “a summary of reputational risks” associated with appointing Lord Mandelson, including his “prior relationship with Jeffrey Epstein” and past resignations as a Labour minister.Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary, told MPs that the report contained “direct extracts from media reporting and notes a general reputational risk” arising from making the appointment.Speaking at the foreign affairs select committee, he said the “judgment about whether to make the appointment or not” had ultimately been one for Starmer.Mandelson’s longstanding friendship with Epstein, which continued after the disgraced financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, was a matter of public record before his appointment was made
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