What's money got to do with it?
Exposing the role financial institutions play in financing plastic polluting business models
Read the report
Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Companies (FMCGs) are driving the growth of plastic production and packaging. In turn contributing to the growing environmental and health impacts of plastics and toxic chemicals.
These top plastic polluters rely on global business models that need substantial financial support to continue business-as-usual: banks, asset managers and other financial institutions provide the loans, credit and investment that keep FMCG companies, such as Unilever, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Nestle operating, expanding and growing profits.
The environmental, social and health impacts of plastic pollution carry significant financial consequences. Governments shoulder the costs of managing unnecessary plastic waste. Communities face the consequences of pollution, while public health systems absorb the costs associated with exposure to hazardous chemicals and other health impacts linked to plastics.
These costs are rarely reflected in the profits of the companies financing, producing and selling plastic products.
As more awareness is brought to the environmental and health risks associated with plastics, how long until it is widely known that investing in business models reliant on plastic is
also a financial risk?
Financial institutions that enable plastic production and use are exposed to risk at every stage of the plastics lifecycle.
Companies dependent on single-use plastics face:
Physical risks
Carbon emissions, biodiversity loss
Regulatory risks
Bans, taxes
Legal risks
Litigation
Extraction & feedstocks
- Volatile oil and gas prices
- Tightening climate regulations
Production & manufacturing
- Energy-intensive processes
- Enabling the use of hazardous chemicals like PFAS and phthalates
- Greenwashing lawsuits
Consumer products & retail
- Reputational damage
- False recyclability claims
- Microplastics contamination
Waste management
- Export bans
- Extended Producer Responsibility compliance costs
- Pollution litigation
Who is funding the plastic problem
Major financial institutions in Europe, the US, and Asia continue financing Fast-Moving Consumer Goods companies such as Nestlé, Coca-cola, Pepsico and Unilever – the world’s top plastic polluters.
Financial support flows freely, often without a single condition tied to reducing plastic pollution or production.
USD 219.4 billion
provided through loans and underwriting, January 2019 to May 2025
USD 138.0 billion
held or managed in shareholding positions in FMCGs, as of 31 May 2025
Latest research shows:
Which
financial institutions finance the top plastic polluters across Europe, the US and Asia.
How much
credit is provided to companies producing single-use packaging waste and how many shareholdings are held.
Why
sustainability claims and lending practices are not aligned with the severity of the plastic pollution crisis.
What
safeguards are missing from lending agreements and recommendations for banks, FMCGs and policymakers.
There is a role for financial institutions to play in the transition away from business models highly reliant on single-use plastic and support business models that shift reliance away from plastic dependency.
The financial sector has the power to reshape corporate behaviour. This report shows exactly what change must be made to prevent plastic pollution.
READ THE REPORTWhat Financial Institutions Can Do
Shift capital flows
Banks and investors have the power to stop funding plastic pollution and start funding solutions. That means:
- Pull money out of companies expanding virgin plastic production.
- Say no to financing single-use plastics.
- Reward businesses that embrace reuse, refill, and circular systems.
Demand transparency
If financial institutions can’t see the risks, they can’t fix them. They must:
- Require companies to disclose their plastic footprints and set ambitious reduction targets.
- Tie lending and investment terms to real, measurable progress.
- Push for mandatory reporting so everyone can see who’s serious about cutting plastic pollution and who is simply greenwashing.
Support upstream solutions
Banks need to:
- Create dedicated financing frameworks for reuse and circular business models and set measurable targets for deploying capital into them.
- Use risk-sharing tools to make these solutions bankable and scalable.
- Use blended finance - combining public and private capital - to bridge the gap between small-scale pilots and commercial scale.
Engage financial actors
Finance isn’t just about money, it’s about leverage. Investors must:
- Hold plastic-producing and -using companies accountable through direct engagement.
- Mobilize shareholder power with activism and support campaigns.
- Push for Environmental Social Governance (ESG) ratings to include plastic-specific metrics that actually reflect the impact of plastics.
The bottom line:
Banks and investors can either keep funding pollution or lead the shift away from plastics.
