The international environmental organization ClientEarth, together with 13 NGOs, has taken the Flemish government to court. For example, ClientEarth wants to prevent Ineos from building an ethane cracker in the port of Antwerp where gas is converted into ethylene, one of the building blocks of plastic.
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According to ClientEarth, Ineos has insufficiently demonstrated what effects the ethane cracker will have on nature and air quality. The environmental organizations argue that the Flemish authorities have approved the project approved contrary to Belgian and European legislation.
According to Tatiana Luján, lawyer for ClientEarth, the ethane cracker is an alternative business model to keep the sector alive and to use fossil gas for the production of plastic. “These types of projects have devastating effects on the environment and climate both locally and globally,” said Luján. ‘The plastics produced in these installations emit CO2 at every stage of their life cycle.’
ClientEarth argues that “since the government has failed to disclose the unavoidable harmful effects of Project One,” they have no choice but to take the project to court. The environmental organizations also report that Project One’s nitrogen emissions are still seriously underestimated.
ClientEarth works for this case together with the Bond Beter Leefmilieu (BBL), BOS+, Climaxi, Fairfin, Gallifrey Foundation, Greenpeace Belgium, Grandparents for the Climate, Climate Case, Nature Conservation Association De Steltkluut, Plastic Soup Foundation, Recycling Netwerk Benelux, WWF Belgium, and Zero Waste Europe.
A request for annulment of the Project One permit has now been submitted to the Council for Permit Disputes against the Flemish Region.
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