WASHINGTON, April 1, 2025 —A new investigation by Stand.earth Research Group (SRG) and the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) exposes the toxic supply chain fueling global plastic production, shedding new light on the critical players driving the plastics and climate crises.
The research reveals that some of the world’s largest household brands are driving fossil fuel expansion in Texas through their demand for plastic packaging. The brands’ reliance on fracked gas for plastic production is worsening the plastic crisis, harming communities, and accelerating catastrophic climate breakdown.
The findings include the Fracked Plastics Map, an interactive tool that traces the connections between more than 25 major consumer brands — including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé — and petrochemicals sourced from fracking in Texas’s Permian Basin, including major intermediaries.
Key Findings:
- Direct pipeline from Texas fracking to global plastic packaging. The Permian Basin — already the world’s largest source of oil and gas pollution and home to some of the worst air quality in the U.S. — now supplies a significant portion of petrochemical feedstocks used in global plastic production, underscoring plastics’ role as a key driver of the climate crisis.
- Hidden role of major companies. A small group of traders and exporters moves ethane from U.S. fracking wells to petrochemical plants in Europe and Asia, fueling the production of plastic packaging. Supply chains running through just three companies — Ineos, Reliance Industries, and Dow — connect to more than 25 major consumer brands. Without supply chain transparency, major players will continue to profit while communities bear the consequences.
- 25+ global brands are fueling the fracked plastics crisis. Major consumer brands, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé, use petrochemicals tied to fracking in order to make their single-use plastic packaging, driving continued fossil fuel extraction and expansion.
“While much of the climate conversation focuses on transportation and energy, petrochemicals are quietly becoming the biggest driver of fossil fuel demand,” notes Dr. Devyani Singh, Investigative Researcher at SRG. “This research pulls back the curtain on the hidden supply chains behind plastic production, exposing the corporations fueling both the plastic and climate crises.”
“This investigation is a wake-up call: the world’s biggest brands are part of driving fossil fuel expansion through a hidden plastics supply chain that spans continents,” says Steven Feit, Senior Attorney & Legal and Research Manager at CIEL. “Without transparency, restrictions on chemicals of concern, and clear caps on production, corporate polluters will continue to profit while communities bear the cost. We need a strong Global Plastics Treaty to cut plastic production and hold corporate polluters accountable across the entire supply chain.”
This research maps the fracked-gas-to-plastic supply chain originating from a single region in Texas. While Texas is a leading producer, accounting for more than 80 percent of the global ethane trade, the petrochemical and plastics crises are global. From air and water pollution at fracking, refining, and production sites to plastic waste and microplastics, every stage of the supply chain harms communities and ecosystems. This underscores the urgent need for a Global Plastics Treaty to cut plastic production at the source and address its impacts throughout its entire life cycle.
“While most of Europe has banned fracking within its borders, its plastic industry — including the region’s largest producer, Ineos — relies on fracked hydrocarbons from Texas to keep production running,” says Delphine Lévi Alvarès, Global Petrochemicals Campaign Manager at CIEL. “This investigation exposes the hypocrisy of European companies claiming sustainability while outsourcing environmental destruction to frontline communities abroad. It’s time to end this cycle of hidden harm.”
“Externalizing environmental degradation and human rights violations is one part of the ongoing petro-colonization that Gulf South communities are forced to shoulder. From toxic extraction in the Permian Basin to poisonous production along the Houston Ship Channel, the cost is irreversible damage to our children’s health — low birth weights and reproductive and developmental harm — spanning generations,” says Yvette Arellano, Founder and Executive Director of Fenceline Watch in Houston, Texas. “Multinationals’ greenwashing persists due to a lack of transparency and cradle-to-grave monitoring. We must demand an end to profit-driven influence over the Global Plastics Treaty and ensure that producers are required to disclose the true cost of their products.”
“The majority of consumer goods brands named in this research have made voluntary pledges to address the plastic pollution their products cause, including promises to reduce their use of virgin plastic — while making very little progress and, in some cases, actually increasing their annual virgin plastic use,” says Emma Priestland, Global Corporate Campaigns Coordinator with Break Free from Plastic. “This research exposes what is happening beneath their false promises and greenwashing. Their reliance on unnecessary single-use plastics made from fracked fossil fuels continues to harm communities up and down the supply chain.
Using customs data, export/import data, company 10-K filings, supplier disclosure documents, and investor presentations, SRG’s Fracked Plastics Map allows viewers to sort by linked brands and companies, specific brands, or specific parent companies. Ethane shipments to China were identified but could not be tracked further and do not appear in this research.
Media Contact:
For press inquiries, interviews, or more information, please contact: Lindsey Jurca at [email protected].