Fossil fuels — coal, oil, and gas — lie at the heart of the crises we face, including public health, racial injustice, and climate change. The Fossil Fuel Racism report synthesizes existing research and provides new analysis that finds that the fossil fuel industry contributes to public health harms that kill hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. each year and disproportionately endanger Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities. The report argues that President Joe Biden and the 117th Congress have a historic opportunity to improve public health, tackle the climate crisis, and confront systemic racism at the same time by phasing out fossil fuel production and use.

Lead Organization: Greenpeace USA, the Movement for Black Lives, and Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy

Author:

Published on: April 2021

“BRANDED Volume III: Demanding Corporate Accountability for Plastic Pollution” is out, revealing the Top 10 Corporate Plastic Polluters of 2020. This year’s report features a Special Edition: Waste Picker Brand Audits as we put the spotlight on waste pickers around the globe and their vital contribution to managing the world’s plastic pollution crisis. BRANDED Volume III exposes how the plastic industry’s dirty decisions on packaging are impacting waste pickers’ livelihoods. Special thanks to the Break Free From Plastic members, allies and all 14,734 volunteers who conducted 575 brand audits across 55 countries. They collected 346,494 pieces of plastic waste, 63% of which was marked with a clear consumer brand.

Lead Organization: BFFP

Author: BFFP

Published on: December 2020

China’s ban on waste materials disrupted the global market for recyclable material, leading to an influx of waste to Southeast Asian countries. Research was carried out from November 2019 to March 2021 to examine the value chains of the import, transport, and processing of plastic waste in recycling facilities in Malaysia, and to trace the actors and agencies involved in regulating the chains. The aim of the research is to investigate the problem of illegality linked to imported plastic waste in the country.

Lead Organization: C4 Center

Author: C4 Center

Published on: March 2021

Italy's shipments of municipal waste to Tunisia in 2020 shine a spotlight on persisting abuses in the global trade in plastic and other waste. In particular, this scandal highlights the role of problematic EU waste code 19 12 12 in these illegal shipments.

Lead Organization: GAIA

Author: Sirine Rached, Semia Gharbi, Enzo Favoino, Jim Puckett

Published on: February 2021

The latest investigation reveals how the plastic polluters have successfully prevented any attempts to reform the Spanish waste management system for years and are now once again gearing up to derail meaningful implementation of the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive. The latest attempt to derail real solutions, such as DRS and reuse targets, is spearheaded by the producer responsibility organization Ecoembes - large monopoly, which unites the biggest consumer goods companies, like Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestlé, and Danone, and the biggest supermarkets, like Mercadona, Alcampo, Carrefour and Lidl.

Lead Organization: Changing Markets Foundation

Author: Changing Markets Foundation

Published on: March 2021

Employment opportunities are important in any economy, and especially in times of economic downturn. As governments and the private sector invest in economic recovery strategies, particularly “green” or climateneutral approaches, it is important to evaluate their employment potential. C40 estimates that the waste management sector has the potential to create 2.9 million jobs in its 97 member cities alone. Zero waste—a comprehensive approach to waste management that prioritizes waste prevention, re-use, composting, and recycling—is a widely-adopted strategy proven to minimize environmental impacts and contribute to a just society. In this study, we evaluate its job generation potential.

Lead Organization: GAIA

Author: John Ribeiro-Broomhead, Neil Tangr

Published on: February 2021