Repository
A sampling of the nearly 6,400 peer-reviewed papers reviewed for the Project's Frontiers in Environmental Science paper, and additional reports cited in "Plastics: Exposing Their Climate Impacts." Publications are grouped into the three major categories of plastics' impacts on climate.
Climate Impact #1: Emissions of greenhouse gases and black carbon from the plastics lifecycle
The following documents help identify and quantify the emissions of greenhouse gases (including methane and ethylene) and black carbon across the lifecycle of plastics, from fossil fuel extraction to end-of-useful-life treatment or degradation in the environment:
- C-THRU (2022). "Carbon clarity in the petrochemical supply chain."
- Center for International Environmental Law (2019). "The hidden costs of a plastic planet." (Also available in PLOS ONE.)
- Coalition for Materials Emissions Transparency (COMET) (2022). "Making plastics emissions transparent."
- Ford, Jambeck et al. (2022). "The fundamental links between climate change and marine plastic pollution."
- GRID-Arendal (2024). "Climate impacts of plastics: Global actions to stem climate change and end plastic pollution."
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2024). "Climate Impact of Primary Plastic Production" by Karali, N., Khanna, N., & Shah, N.
- Royer et al. (2018). "Production of methane and ethylene from plastic in the environment."
- Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty (2023). "Policy Brief: Climate change impacts of plastics" by Nihan Karali, Ellen Palm, Juan Baztan, Patricia Villarubia Gomes, Nina Khanna, et al.
Climate Impact #2: The impact of plastics on carbon cycling including sequestration
These documents help identify and quantify the climate-relevant impacts of plastics on carbon cycling, including on carbon fluxes, sources, and sinks:
- Galgani and Loiselle (2020). "Plastic pollution impacts on marine carbon biogeochemistry."
- Shen et al. (2023). "Recent advances in the research on effects of micro/nanoplastics on carbon conversion and carbon cycle: a review."
- Stubbins et al. (2021). "Plastics in the Earth system."
- Zhao et al. (2023). "Effects of plastic contamination on carbon fluxes in a subtropical coastal wetland of East China."
- Zhu, X. (2021). "The plastic cycle — an unknown branch of the carbon cycle."
Climate Impact #3: The impact of plastics on the Earth's radiation budget
These resources investigate the changes in Earth surface albedo, direct aerosol effects, and/or indirect aerosol effects due to environmental plastics: