Plastics Study Singles Out 20 Polluters

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Twenty companies are responsible for producing more than half of all the single-use plastic waste in the world, fuelling the climate crisis and creating an environmental catastrophe, new research reveals.

ExxonMobil is the greatest single-use plastic waste polluter in the world, contributing 5.9m tons to the global waste mountain, concludes an analysis by the Minderoo Foundation of Australia with partners including Wood Mackenzie, the London School of Economics and Stockholm Environment Institute. The world’s largest chemical company, US-based Dow, created 5.5m tons of plastic waste, while China’s oil and gas enterprise Sinopec created 5.3m tonnes. According to the report, those companies’ plastic production is funded by leading banks, led by Barclays, HSBC, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.

Former US vice-president and environmentalist Al Gore said the ground-breaking analysis exposed how fossil fuel companies were rushing to switch to plastic production as two of their main markets – transport and electricity generation – were being decarbonized. Big plastic polluters take advantage of minimal regulation and limited transparency in most countries.

Sources: Forbes.hu, Guardian

CET Editor

Recent Posts

CEE mulls ramifications of Trump’s victory on trade, defence, environment

As Donald Trump officially declared his victory in the US election, he received congratulations from…

3 days ago

‘Budapest Declaration’ signed as Orban hosts EU summit

European leaders committed to developing a defence industry base and enhancing EU competitiveness at an…

3 days ago

EU, South Korea expand security, defence links

The EU and the Republic of Korea formalised a comprehensive Security and Defence Partnership in…

3 days ago

PKN Orlen CEE’s top firm on Coface 500 list

Poland is the dominant country in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) business landscape, with…

3 days ago

To the victor go the spoils – the big winners and losers of Trump’s second presidency – CET op-ed

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, no stranger to political brinkmanship, went all in on Donald…

1 week ago

Moldova pivots to EU in presidential vote

Moldovan President Maia Sandu defeated her pro-Russian rival Alexandr Stoianoglo by around 55% to 45% in the presidential second-round…

1 week ago