Press Release by ClientEarth regarding the conclusion of the case 

https://www.clientearth.org/latest/press-office/press/major-blow-for-ineos-as-court-strikes-down-3bn-plastics-project/ 

In 2021, Flemish authorities announced their approval of petrochemicals giant INEOS’ plastics plant project ('Project One') in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium. 

ClientEarth and 13 other NGOs argue that this project would have tremendous and inadequately assessed environmental impacts, namely in the form of plastic pollution and climate change exacerbation. As a consequence of these concerns, these NGOs submitted an appeal against the permit to the Flemish Ministry of the Environment in early 2022. They argued, in particular, that the permit’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) failed to meet the legal requirements and should not be granted. 

This appeal was dismissed in June 2022. A month later, the NGOs announced that they would bring the Flemish authorities to court to challenge this decision to dismiss their appeal. They argue that "INEOS has so far failed to present an adequate assessment of how the project would impact the climate, nature and surrounding air quality – all of which are likely to suffer significantly if the project goes ahead," and that "the Flemish authorities approved the project without first fully assessing its impacts – making the approval illegal according to EU and national laws." 

In July 2023, the Council of Permit Disputes ("Raad Voor Vergunningsbetwistingen") ruled in a parallel case brought by Dutch authorities in Belgium that INEOS failed to tell Flemish authorities the full extent of its project's predicted impact on the environment, so much so that these authorities should not have granted the project's approval. Accordingly, the project has been suspended, and ClientEarth and others' case is concluded since the underlying permit is now void.

ClientEarth and others v. Flemish Region

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ClientEarth and others v. Flemish Region - press release

Filed

Belgium

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

ClientEarth and others v. Flemish Region - press release

Policy instrument

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance