Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp
1326
2
exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Excluded by the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global in 2020 for unacceptable risk of human rights violations. NBIM Council of Ethics documented illegal use of overtime, discrimination, and occupational safety violations at Formosa Taffeta, a subsidiary operating in Vietnam. Parent company Formosa Plastics Group is a documented serial environmental offender: the 2016 Ha Tinh steel plant disaster discharged toxic waste off the Vietnamese coast, killing millions of fish and devastating coastal fishing communities. Formosa pledged $500M in compensation to the Vietnamese government but has not adequately compensated individual victims.
Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp, a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Group, operates petrochemical manufacturing facilities that have been linked to documented patterns of toxic pollution and chemical spills. In Vietnam, the company’s steel plant in Ha Tinh province was responsible for a 2016 marine environmental disaster that released toxic wastewater, devastating over 200 kilometers of coastline, killing an estimated 115 tons of fish, and impacting the livelihoods of thousands of local fishers. The incident triggered widespread protests and lawsuits from affected communities seeking compensation for damages.
The company’s operations in Texas and Louisiana have also drawn regulatory scrutiny and community opposition due to environmental risks. In Point Comfort, Texas, Formosa Plastics’ facility has a long history of air and water permit violations, including a 2019 federal lawsuit settlement under the Clean Water Act for discharging plastic pellets and other pollutants into Lavaca Bay and Cox Creek. The settlement required $50 million for environmental restoration and led to a “zero discharge” mandate. Despite this, the company is pursuing a massive $9.4 billion petrochemical complex in St. James Parish, Louisiana—a project opposed by environmental groups for its potential impact on predominantly Black communities and sensitive wetlands, and which has been challenged for its air permits. These patterns of operational negligence and contested expansion into environmentally vulnerable areas demonstrate a recurring failure to prevent ecological harm.
Research Sources
1 organization
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