ClientEarth Communications
10th November 2025
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We launched a new legal case against the latest permit for Project One. New expert evidence indicates that the plant’s carbon emissions could be five times higher than INEOS’s own estimate, as it has failed to calculate and present emissions of the full lifecycle of its product – from the gas that’s fracked and transported to make ethylene, to the plastic waste and ensuing incineration at the end of its life. Health studies also predict severe air pollution impacts to local communities, including projections of around 410 premature deaths and more than 100 new cases of childhood asthma once the facility is operational.
We met communities from the US, living near industrial fracking sites that produce the gas needed to feed facilities similar to INEOS’s Project One. Fracking often takes place virtually on the doorstep of family homes, and can have severe health impacts.
Community member and activist Jodi Borello, from Washington County, lives within just a few hundred metres of seven separate fracking ‘well pads’. She said:
“My family suffered for years at the hands of the oil and gas industry. We had nosebleeds. We received medical treatment for chemical burns to our skin and eyes. My message to European decision makers is that fracking is harming humans – it’s causing cancer and it’s destroying our way of life.”
This is the first time a court will be asked to take the full emissions of plastic production into consideration, making this a crucial case in the fight against plastic pollution.
In 2020, together with 13 NGOs, we took emergency legal action against the Flemish authorities to block Project One from being built. The project – if allowed to go ahead – would originally have consisted of two units, built beside a protected nature site, and would convert fossil gas from the US into ethylene and propylene, two of the building blocks of plastic.
We won an injunction against INEOS in 2020 – the court agreed the authorities hadn’t properly interrogated the project’s environmental impacts. Our full appeal against the project’s initial permit approval was launched a month later, highlighting the clear breaches of EU and national laws in the planning process.
In January 2021, INEOS announced that plans for one of the two units would be suspended indefinitely. A spokesperson cited a challenging market, with demand for propylene plummeting. Soon after, INEOS decided to drop its permit for the project entirely.
Later that year, INEOS began seeking approval for a new permit, which would attempt to reflect the full environmental impacts of its planned plastic project in the Port of Antwerp.
But we and our partners objected, explaining that INEOS hadn't sufficiently demonstrated how the project would affect the climate, nature, and air quality nearby and abroad. If the project proceeds, it is likely to negatively impact all these aspects. However, the Flemish authorities went ahead anyway, and, at the end of 2021, gave the green light to INEOS’ fresh permit for Project One. That was our green light to prepare for court action.
After taking the Flemish authorities to court in 2022, a hearing took place in April 2023. During the hearing the parties presented their arguments. Then a few months later, in an historic win, the court ruled that INEOS’ project was not legal and their permit was cancelled.
Following the court ruling, INEOS resubmitted a permit request and has now been granted approval to go ahead with the plastics project.
In February 2024, we challenged the approval because INEOS once again failed to include details of the true impact of their mega-project on people, nature and the climate – not just in the region, but along the full value chain. We argue that the Flemish authorities’ approval of the project is illegal under both EU and national laws because they didn't first demand a full assessment of its impacts.
Our lawyer Tatiana explained:
“The changes made to the project’s new permit are just window dressing. The fact remains that Project One is both hugely destructive and completely unnecessary. However, the authorities have once again failed to acknowledge the blatant, toxic repercussions of the project, so we have no choice but to go back to court.”
Along with the 14 other NGOs, we renewed our legal fight against INEOS’ project for the fourth time, by taking yet another lawsuit against the Flemish authorities’ permit. This follows the authorities’ unexpected decision to withdraw their previous approval and immediately grant a new one.
Plastics are a slow-motion disaster for people and the environment. They are not only a concern because of the waste that they generate, but also because of the increasing problem they pose to the climate and our health.
Many people don't know, but 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels. Fossil fuels can be processed into a number of products, like petroleum, gasoline and petrochemicals. The latter makes up the building blocks of plastics.
The process of extracting these fossil fuels and converting them into plastic generates huge amounts of climate-harming emissions along each stage of plastics’ life cycle.
When plastic is manufactured, hazardous substances are discharged into the air. Communities located close to production sites and workers employed in the production facilities are threatened with daily exposure.
To create plastic products, manufacturers use tiny plastic pellets called nurdles. But these lentil-sized beads are littering beaches to such a large extent that beach cleanups can’t keep up. They are also “toxic sponges”, which draw chemical toxins and pollutants.
Plastics are an environmental issue, a people issue and a climate issue. That's why we’re taking action to block the construction of a new plastics facility in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium.
The project, known as Project One, is the brainchild of petrochemicals and fossil fuel giant INEOS. After several delays and a court ruling that cancelled the permit, INEOS has been given the green light to go ahead with Project One. If built, it would cost €3 billion and would become the biggest plastics facility in Europe, with devastating environmental and climate impacts that would stretch globally – far beyond just Belgium.
If built, the facility would have far-reaching impacts on people, nature and the climate. So, we’re challenging it in court.
Our lawyer Tatiana Luján said:
"Make no mistake, using fossil gas to make plastics is an attempt to keep the petrochemicals industry alive. This would be Europe’s largest plastics investment in decades, and it is entirely out of touch with the reality of climate change, the decline of the natural world, and the increasing evidence of what plastics do to our health."
Projects like this also have not only devastating effects on the surrounding environment, but huge global impacts.
We’ve already successfully delayed INEOS’ plastics facility by several years and we're not stopping here. We intend to stop the project from ever being built.
30 October 2025
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