Global Production Networks for Fracking, Gas Liquids and Plastics: Policy Solutions for a Self-Reinforcing Problem

• In Event: 1261 - Environmental Policy

Abstract

Although the connection between the two is obscure, the unsustainable production of fracked natural gas and gas liquids has stimulated continual increases in the production of plastics. Fracking and plastics production are mutually reinforcing, inherently unsustainable processes that enable unconventional gas extraction to remain profitable, even when both gas and gas liquids are overproduced and prices are low. Through standards for sustainably-sourced goods, buyer power and other means, global production networks (GPNs) for foodstuffs and other goods have been made more sustainable. But unique characteristics of gas-liquids-to-plastics GPNs block efforts to govern the sustainability of GPNs that turn gas liquids into plastic goods. No convincing evidence exists to show that self-governance by producers has resulted in measurable progress toward greater sustainability. The only hope of solving the self-reinforcing problem of gas liquids and plastics is governance in the form of regulation, ideally through binding international agreements banning fracking, limiting the production of plastics, and protecting the world’s water quality through addressing the energy-water nexus. Current realities suggest that international agreements and tough new laws in the U.S. are equally unlikely to occur; however, GPNs may be uniquely suited to regulatory interventions at state and local levels as they span multiple jurisdictions, economic sectors and the energy, toxic chemical and waste disposal policy arenas. Each policy arena represents an opportunity for intervention into the current unsustainable production practices through which gas liquids become plastics.

Author

• Diane M. Sicotte, Drexel University