English references

The fluoropolymer industry is at it again. The industry’s most notable products are non-stick industrial coatings such as Teflon, made using forever chemicals (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances: PFAS). But as the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) starts to wind up its second public consultation on the proposed EU PFAS ban, the fluoropolymer industry is once again mobilising its customers to criticise alternatives to their products.

Together with the Center for International Environmental Law, we expose the scientific deception by chemicals industry which is delaying or derailing regulation to protect health and the environment.

Industry’s spin and privileged access to the highest levels of the Commission, alongside the current EU hostility to new green rules and mania for deregulation, appear to have fatally undermined a key European Green Deal ambition.

Harmful chemicals in babies’ pacifiers. ‘Forever chemicals’ / PFAS in dental floss. Known carcinogens in lipstick lids. These are just three examples of toxic chemicals in everyday products that reveal how the EU’s flagship chemicals policy, REACH, is not delivering for citizens.

On the topic of climate and carbon reduction commitments, corporations like Google, Microsoft, and Shell once positioned themselves as leaders in sustainability, setting ambitious net-zero goals to align with global environmental efforts. However, the rapid rise of energy-hungry artificial intelligence is forcing these companies to reconsider—or even abandon—these commitments as they struggle to balance environmental responsibility and making money from new tech.

At least 1773 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the COP29 summit in Baku, underscoring an outsized polluter presence year after year at crucial climate talks, according to a new analysis from Corporate Europe Observatory, Corporate Accountability and Global Witness, from the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition.

COP29 in Baku, which finished last week, was crawling with fossil-fuel lobbyists determined to eke out profits for as long as possible. Shockingly, for a second year running, it is European governments that have facilitated access for a huge number of them.

Fossil fuel companies that want a free pass to keep pumping oil and gas are making wildly unrealistic promises about 'capturing' their emissions at sites of pollution, or removing them from the atmosphere at later date. But the science says drastic emission cuts are needed now if we are to stay within 1.5ºC warming. Thus ‘net zero’ policies are in reality 'not zero', and effectively guarantee that we’ll overshoot 1.5ºC, triggering catastrophic climate impacts which we have no reason to believe can be reversed by speculative and unproven ‘carbon removal’ technologies.

At COP26 this week, some of the world’s biggest corporate polluters sent huge delegations to proclaim the need for climate action. They’re presenting themselves as the new climate saviors, but averting disaster won’t come from those who make a profit from killing the planet.

How Big Polluters are using “net zero” to block meaningful action at COP26

Some of the worst financiers of the worts polluters helped write the script - and more, they will implement the decisions after the summit in Glasgow.

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Europe’s 25 largest banks are still failing to present comprehensive plans that address both the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, putting their sustainability pledges in doubt, campaigners have warned.

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