Home / Environment / Lawyers Challenge €4bn Plastic Plant, Citing Underestimated Health and Climate Impacts
Lawyers Challenge €4bn Plastic Plant, Citing Underestimated Health and Climate Impacts
6 Nov
Summary
- Lawyers argue plant's pollution will cause 410 deaths, exceeding 300 permanent jobs
- Carbon emissions from plant's supply chain could reach 5 times Ineos's estimates
- Courts to weigh in on including "scope 3" emissions in environmental assessments
In a legal challenge filed on November 6th, 2025, lawyers, community members, and financial experts are seeking to stop the construction of a €4bn petrochemical plant in Antwerp, Belgium. The plant, known as Project One and being built by Ineos, is designed to transform ethane from US shale gas into the raw material for plastic production.
However, new evidence suggests the plant's environmental and health impacts have been vastly underestimated. Research indicates the air pollution from the facility would cause 410 deaths once operational, far exceeding the 300 permanent jobs the company claims it will create. Additionally, lawyers argue that Ineos failed to accurately calculate the plant's full supply chain emissions, which could reach 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually - around five times higher than the company's own estimates.
This legal challenge comes at a crucial time, as courts around the world have recently clarified the need to include "scope 3" emissions - those that occur outside the facility but are enabled by its existence - in environmental impact assessments. Tatiana Luján of ClientEarth, who is leading the case, says this is the first time a court will weigh in on the issue of scope 3 emissions and plastics production.
Despite Ineos's claims that the plant will be the "most environmentally friendly steam cracker in Europe," the lawyers argue that the project's reliance on fossil fuels and its massive emissions make it incompatible with the urgent need to reduce plastic production and address the climate crisis.
