The Battle for Plastics: Corporate Power and the UN Global Plastics Treaty

With Jack Taggart

This project examines how powerful corporate entities respond to a significant threat to business-as-usual: ongoing negotiations for a legally binding global treaty on plastic pollution. Central to this inquiry is our concept of the ‘petrochemical historical bloc’, a coalition of fossil fuel, petrochemical, and consumer goods industries, alongside states with vested interests in maintaining and expanding plastic production (1). While social science research has begun addressing the ‘petrochemical blindspot’ in climate debates (2), limited attention has been paid to the structural power and agency of big-brand corporations (such as Coca-Cola, Unilever and Nestlé) that rely on disposable plastics, or their relationship with upstream industries in shaping the global plastics economy.