Fossil Fuels

The report presents numbers and figures of the 2024 Great Global Nurdle Hunt. Nurdles are plastic pellets produced from fossil fuels, recycled or biobased material. Each year, due to mismanagement across the entire supply chain and a lack of regulation, over 445,000 t of nurdles spill into the environment around the world, making them a major source of primary microplastic pollution.

The Chinese online fashion brand SHEIN has promoted fast fashion to ultra fast fashion. It’s built on the exploitation of the environment and people, relying on the lack of enforcement of protection regulations for the environment as well as workers and consumers.

This investigation underscores the pivotal role the fashion industry plays in perpetuating fossil fuel dependency and signals a concerning lack of action to break ties with Russian oil – through which the fashion brands are indirectly funding petrochemical expansion and the war in Ukraine.

Global fashion brands are promoting circularity, but in reality that's still a myth. Nowhere is the failure of fast fashion more visible than in the countries where many of these cheap clothes end up: on huge dump sites, burnt on open fires, along riverbeds and washed out into the sea, with severe consequences for people and the planet.

The report shows how Big Oil and the plastics industry have deceptively promoted recycling as a solution to plastic waste management for more than 50 years, despite their long-standing knowledge that plastic recycling is not technically or economically viable at scale.

This part of the Plastic Treaty Essential Elements series explains why the financial aspects of a global agreement on plastic pollution should be addressed head-on as an essential element to achieve its objectives.

A case for turning off the petrochemical industry’s plastic production tap to reduce European Union’s dependency on fossil fuels and Russia.

This guide is an informational resource for communities facing the threat of petrochemical production and expansion. It informs community leaders, organizers, and attorneys of the risks and impacts of petrochemical production and use, and ways to raise concerns about existing or proposed facilities.

The fashion industry and its prevailing fast-fashion business model rely heavily on the use of cheap synthetic fibres, which are produced from fossil fuels, such as oil and gas. This report investigates the behaviour of some of the biggest fashion brands and retailers regarding their use of synthetic fibres and transparency about doing so.

The energy sector is facing significant reduction demand for fossil fuel products as the world transitions to cleaner sources of electricity and fuel. This report explores a range of risks within the plastic and petrochemical sectors.