Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revealed, in a brutal way, Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels, particularly Russian oil and gas. In the midst of an energy crisis, EU governments demand far more action — and adaptation — from individual citizens than from industry sectors that consume the lion’s share of fossil feedstock and fossil energy, while they also completely overlook the huge potential to reduce fossil fuel consumption by tackling unnecessary use.
The case of petrochemicals and plastics is emblematic of this problem. The petrochemical industry is the largest driver of the increased demand for oil and gas globally, fueling the climate crisis and its disastrous impacts on the most vulnerable communities and ecosystems. Yet, this extremely high fossil fuel-consuming industry remains a complete oversight in the EU public energy and climate debates. This is despite clear and feasible pathways to reduce consumption of one of its main products: plastic.
Today, Break Free From Plastic and the Center for International Environmental Law released the report “Winter Is Coming: Plastic Has To Go” addressing exactly this issue and highlighting the urgent need to decrease plastic production to reduce the EU dependency on fossil fuels – and in particular on Russian oil and gas.
Published on September 27th, 2022