Contribution short abstract

The petrochemicals sector also promote "false solutions" to maintain its hegemony. This paper analyzes how this industry obstructs the Global Plastics Treaty and the EU PFAS ban by concealing harm and delaying crucial regulation.

Contribution long abstract

Amid escalating global pressures to address the pollution dimension of the triple planetary crisis, the petrochemical sector employs the fossil fuel industry's "part of the solution" narrative. This strategy represents a clear case of promoting "false solutions" to maintain carbon lock-in, despite overwhelming evidence of the severe environmental and public health impacts of plastics and related petrochemicals.

This is particularly evident with Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), petrochemicals of significant concern due to their persistence and toxicity. Following a pattern observed in the tobacco and fossil fuel industries, investigative journalism has revealed that the PFAS industry deliberately concealed knowledge of these harms from regulators for decades.

Against this background, and through a political ecology lens, this paper examines the sophisticated strategies, tactics, and narratives deployed by the petrochemical sector to obstruct two crucial contemporary regulatory efforts to address the problem of PFAs toxicity: the negotiation of the Global Plastics Treaty and the 2023 proposal to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) seeking a near-total ban on PFAS in the EU. The research focuses on the industry's efforts to perpetuate fossil essentialism by promoting delaying tactics, such as questioning scientific evidence and advocating for substitutions with chemically similar alternatives. The analysis draws on scholarship from international environmental law, regulatory governance and political ecology. Methodologically, the research combines case study analysis with interviews with journalists and regulatory experts. As a result, it will shed light on the petrochemical sector's sophisticated modes of obstruction, contributing to unveil the misbehavior of the fossil fuel industry.