Chemical reaction: New report exposes corporate lobby threat to EU PFAS restriction
Brussels, 14 January 2025 - The EU proposal to restrict PFAS – or ‘forever chemicals’ – across Europe, which was originally developed by regulatory authorities in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, is under serious threat from corporate lobbying.
Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory researcher and campaigner, says: “Industry is heavily lobbying EU decision-makers, particularly the European Commission, to safeguard its profits and PFAS products, even in the face of overwhelming evidence of the damage these chemicals cause to health and the environment. Worryingly, the EU’s executive has been receptive to this corporate lobbying, raising concerns that the von der Leyen Commission could ultimately prioritise industry demands over protecting people and the planet.”
Corporate Europe Observatory’s new report “Chemical reaction: Inside the corporate fight against the EU’s PFAS restriction” exposes the intense corporate lobbying campaign at the EU level to undermine the current PFAS proposal.
“Industry players—including major PFAS producers, their trade associations, and those who use PFAS in their supply chains—are deploying a varied playbook of tactics to resist the proposed EU PFAS regulation. These include face-to-face lobbying of policy-makers to mobilising industry allies to amplify their agenda, deploying industry-funded research, using lobby consultancies, and in some cases legal firms, and promoting voluntary schemes as a smokescreen to distract from a meaningful PFAS restriction,” continued CEO’s researcher and campaigner.
These findings concur with the Forever Lobbying Project — a cross-border investigation by 46 journalists across 29 media outlets in 16 countries — which reveals the scale of member state lobbying efforts and staggering PFAS clean-up costs across Europe. The Project also launched today.
“The revelations from the Forever Lobbying Project expose the real costs of forever pollution and the truth about industry’s cynical forever lobbying campaign. The project reflects the crucial role of investigative journalism in our societies,” added Vicky Cann.
Additional findings of Corporate Europe Observatory’s report include:
- Weakened ambition: The European Commission’s initial drive to regulate chemicals including PFAS has been diluted in recent times, with arguments for competitiveness and deregulation now dominating the discourse in the EU.
- Influence on the Commission: Corporate lobbies have actively targeted the Commission, despite its current role being limited to an observer in the process which, right now, is being led by the EU Chemicals Agency. Alarmingly, the Commission has provided advice and encouragement to lobbyists rather than shielding itself.
- Spin and scaremongering: The PFAS industry’s campaign relies heavily on spin, unsubstantiated claims, and scaremongering as illustrated by the ‘Forever Lobbying Project’. Regrettably many of these arguments have been echoed by politicians, influencing public and political perceptions.
- German influence: Germany remains a focal point of the battle, with ambiguous federal government positions and corporate-aligned regional politicians amplifying industry’s lobby spin.
- Political allies: MEPs, despite their limited formal role in the process, are being mobilised by corporate interests to pressure national governments. Corporate lobbying has also targeted member state representations, though transparency is lacking.
- ECHA consultation: The European Chemicals Agency’s public consultation saw a flood of business responses — strategically orchestrated by industry. Some direct lobbying of ECHA officials has also occurred.
Key lobby players:
- Chemours: A spin-off company from DuPont, Chemours is the most active corporate lobbyist, with declared EU lobby spending quadrupling since 2017, widespread high-level meetings across numerous Commission departments, and intensive use of lawyers and lobby consultancies to deliver its agenda.
- PFAS producers: Taken as a group of 17 companies, PFAS producers have collectively increased their declared EU lobby spending by 34 per cent in the past year.
- CEFIC and Plastics Europe: The chemicals and plastics trade associations have not been active in the same way, but have each led their industry’s efforts and recycled some of their classic tactics. CEFIC has commissioned studies on the costs of the PFAS proposal which ignore the health and environmental benefits, while Plastics Europe is trying to head-off a ban on fluoropolymer PFAS by promoting weaker alternative measures.
- Other sectors: Intense lobbying has also come from lithium battery, medical technology, and semiconductor industries.
Vicky Cann concluded:
"The evidence of the devastating effects of PFAS contamination on human health and the environment is before us, we cannot afford to clean it up, and we need to turn off the PFAS tap. To agree the much-needed comprehensive PFAS restriction, we need to end the corporate ‘forever lobbying’ because the chemicals industry, and their PFAS allies, are fighting tooth and nail to delay, weaken, or derail the proposal. Whether it is intensive lobbying, creating echo chambers for industry spin, funding corporate-backed science, or the promotion of weaker alternative measures, industry is running a pernicious campaign against a vital regulation which is needed to protect EU citizens and future generations from PFAS pollution. The Commission needs to stop meeting with those demanding temporary and permanent opt-outs to the restriction and implement a toxics firewall to protect its decision-making.”
ENDS
For media inquiries, please contact
Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory researcher and campaigner
vicky@corporateeurope.org; +44 7960 988096
Marcella Via, Corporate Europe Observatory press officer
media@corporateeurope.org; +39 348 4201435
Notes to editor
- The cross-border investigation Forever Lobbying Project was coordinated by Le Monde and involved 46 journalists and 29 media partners from 16 countries: RTBF (Belgium); Denik Referendum (Czech Republic); Investigative Reporting Denmark (Denmark); YLE (Finland); Le Monde and France Télévisions (France); MIT Technology Review Germany, NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany); Reporters United (Greece); L'Espresso, RADAR Magazine, Facta.eu and La Via Libera (Italy); Investico, De Groene Amsterdammer and Financieele Dagblad (the Netherlands); Klassekampen (Norway); Oštro (Slovenia); DATADISTA / elDiario.es (Spain); Sveriges Radio and Dagens ETC (Sweden); SRF (Switzerland); The Black Sea (Turkey); Watershed Investigations / The Guardian (UK), with a publishing partnership with Arena for Journalism in Europe, and in collaboration with lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory. The investigation is based on over 14,000 previously unpublished documents on “forever chemicals” PFAS. The work included filing 184 freedom of information requests, 66 of which were shared to the team by Corporate Europe Observatory. The work of the Forever Lobbying Project must be fully acknowledged by all journalists who use its findings. These findings are clearly attributed to the Forever Lobbying Project in Corporate Europe Observatory’s own report.
- PFAS are chemicals found in consumer products including waterproof coats, cookware, cosmetics, fridges, air conditioning, and industrial manufacturing. This class of over 10,000 substances, produced since the 1940s, contains carbon-fluorine bonds—among the strongest in organic chemistry—posing serious risks to human health and the environment. Today PFAS are everywhere - literally: in the bodies of almost all humans, including unborn babies. Exposure has been linked to cancers, liver damage, thyroid disease, immune effects, and hormone disruption. Young children, pregnant or breastfeeding individuals, and the elderly are especially vulnerable.
- Read the full report here.
- Spokespersons are available for interviews in French, Dutch, Danish, Italian, Spanish and English.
- Summaries of the report are also available on Corporate Europe Observatory's website in English, French, German, Italian, and Dutch.
- In January 2024, Corporate Europe Observatory exposed how Big Toxics and allies used misleading narratives to lobby against the ‘essential use’ concept, to create regulatory loopholes and derail the EU Commission’s chemicals reform.
- In July 2023, Corporate Europe Observatory revealed how the toxics industry was fighting back against the PFAS regulation.