Greenpeace activists hung from a bridge to block an LNG transport ship, in a striking protest in Scotland, demanding an immediate global agreement to reduce plastics.
In a daring action, Greenpeace activists proceeded to obstruct and block the passage of a natural gas transport ship.
Scotland’s famous Forth Road Bridge, which crosses the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, was closed when Greenpeace activists attempted to block the natural gas transport ship INEOS Independence.
The protest also coincides with the arrival of Donald Trump in Scotland and aims to draw attention to the ongoing negotiations for the Plastics Treaty.
Scottish Police are on the scene and advising drivers to avoid the area. They received reports of the protest around 1:00 p.m. local time.
Greenpeace reports that 10 experienced climbers were suspended beneath the bridge. The Forth Road Bridge is nearly 2.5 kilometers long, crossing one of the main shipping routes in eastern Scotland. The road is approximately 50 meters above the water. The protesters are reportedly positioned 20 meters apart and hanging about 25 meters below the underside of the bridge.
An international team of Greenpeace activists abseil from Scotland’s Forth Road Bridge to block an INEOS tanker from delivering its cargo of fracked American gas to the Grangemouth petrochemical facility. The Greenpeace protest is aimed at chemicals giant INEOS, owned by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, which is opposing efforts by UN Member States to secure a Global Plastics Treaty to curb plastic pollution. INEOS is the UK’s biggest plastics manufacturer, producing (pellets) daily at its Grangemouth plant – enough to make 60 million plastic bottles.
The protesters unfurled large banners reading “Plastics Treaty Now” to draw attention to their cause. Greenpeace states that it has a rescue team on standby at the bridge and a team of boats on the river below. It reports that the protesters plan to remain on the bridge for the next 24 hours.
The Malta-flagged INEOS Independence deviated from its course and headed to anchorage. The ship had departed around 10 days earlier from Houston, Texas, and is reported to be carrying 27,500 cubic meters of ethane to the company’s plant in Grangemouth.
INEOS has been importing gas with its tankers for nearly a decade. Greenpeace states that INEOS is the largest plastics manufacturer in the United Kingdom, producing 30 to 35 million pellets (nurdles) per day, enough to make 60 million plastic bottles.
“Plastic pollution has reached a critical point: it is poisoning the land, our seas, the air, and even our bodies,” said Amy Cameron, Program Director of Greenpeace UK. “The Global Plastics Treaty offers us a unique opportunity to tackle the problem definitively.”
The group emphasizes that governments are scheduled to meet between August 5 and 14 in Geneva, Switzerland, for the sixth and final round of negotiations on the Global Plastics Treaty.
Greenpeace calls for the talks to agree on a reduction in global plastic production by at least 75% by 2040 and for the UN to exclude representatives of fossil fuel companies from the treaty negotiations.
It argues that plastics producers, including INEOS, have collectively sent hundreds of lobbyists to influence the negotiations.
