KATHMANDU: A new Greenpeace International report has found that over 50 million people across 11 countries are at risk of breathing hazardous air pollutants released by petrochemical facilities linked to plastic production—prompting renewed calls to drastically cut plastic manufacturing at its source.

The report, titled Every Breath You Take: Air Pollution Risks from Petrochemical Production for the Plastics Supply Chain, underscores the health risks faced by communities living near plastic-linked industrial plants, particularly in the United States and parts of Europe.

“What this report shows is that the plastics crisis is a public health emergency,” said Graham Forbes, Global Plastics Campaign Lead at Greenpeace USA. “Without a treaty that cuts production, the plastic crisis will only grow worse. The Global Plastics Treaty must deliver a 75% cut in plastic production by 2040 to reduce escalating threats to human and planetary health.”

The Greenpeace report highlights how petrochemical plants emit harmful airborne pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), sulfur oxides (SOₓ), and particulate matter (PM). These emissions are known to increase the risk of cancer, respiratory illness, and premature death among people living nearby.

Key Findings:

• Over 51 million people live within 10 km of plastic-linked petrochemical facilities; 16 million are within 5 km.
• The United States tops the list, with 13 million people—especially in Texas and Louisiana—living in high-risk zones.
• In the Netherlands, 25.6% of the population (4.5 million) live near such facilities—the highest proportion among countries studied.
• The pollution is transboundary, with petrochemical plants near national borders impacting communities in Austria, Poland, Belgium, France, Germany, and Singapore.
• Some locations have been declared "sacrifice zones" by the UN due to their chronic exposure and health toll.

The report also raises alarms about industry plans to expand global plastic production until 2050, warning this would deepen environmental injustices, increase waste in low-income nations, and worsen the climate crisis.

Greenpeace is demanding that the upcoming Global Plastics Treaty talks, scheduled from August 5 to 14, 2025, in Geneva, commit to a production cut of at least 75% by 2040, in order to protect global health, the climate, and ecosystems.