The Plastics & Climate Project

Spotlighting the undercounted, significant, and growing climate impacts of plastics by sharing the story, spurring the science, and influencing policy.

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Your work helped to establish the urgent need to understand the nexus between plastic pollution and climate change. Thanks for your tireless work to bring the issue of the climate impact of plastics to the attention of the world. You've helped to bring this issue into sharp public focus — exactly where it belongs. — Dr. Ben Santer

Why This Project Exists

Scientists know that plastics — and the petrochemicals in them — have climate change impacts. But we don't know how much of a temperature rise they may cause. With increasing plastic production, use, and waste generation, these climate impacts will also increase. Even many "bio" and "compostable" plastics affect the climate. Yet a number of climate impacts from plastics are not included in any greenhouse gas emissions inventories or climate models.

What the Data Show

If the plastics industry were a country, it would be at least the 5th largest emitter of greenhouse gases — after China, the US, India, and Russia. [4]

[HOLLY TO REVISE — flagged as factually inaccurate.] 5% of total global GHG emissions from primary plastics — twice aviation. [1]

The plastics industry is on track to release more greenhouse gases than coal plants in the US by 2030, including millions of tons of methane. [5]

Plastics appear to be harming the ocean's ability to absorb carbon, as well as soils' and plants', and add toxins to those environments and the air we breathe. [2]

Access the peer-reviewed paper, summary report, and other materials.

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Support Our Work

Tax-deductible donations to The Plastics & Climate Project are welcome and needed to support our outreach, advocacy, scientific, and policy work.

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Notes & Citations

  1. Plastics affect the climate in multiple ways due both to greenhouse gas emissions through all stages of the plastics life cycle, and to plastic's physical and chemical properties, including shedding of micro- and nanoplastics. The only impact category that is accounted for is greenhouse gas emissions. However, only the emissions from the beginning extraction and production phases, and some forms of waste management are counted. Global production of primary plastics alone generated more than 2.7 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2023 — about 5% (up to 5.3%) of total global GHG emissions, or twice the amount from aviation. (The 5% is approximate as it depends on the global GHG emissions number used — WRI or Canadian government.) A 2024 study (Pottinger et al.) estimates annual increases in GHG emissions from the plastics lifecycle are projected to grow 37% by 2050 to approximately 3.35 billion tonnes CO₂ equivalent. WRI global GHG emissions · Canadian government GHG indicators · Pottinger et al. (2024)
  2. Zhu (2021) "The plastic cycle — an unknown branch of the carbon cycle"; Stubbins et al. (2021) "Plastics in the Earth System"; Loiselle and Galgani (2020) "Plastic pollution impacts on marine carbon biogeochemistry"; Sharma et al. (2023) "Contribution of plastic and microplastic to global climate change and their conjoining impacts on the environment"; Shen et al. (2023) "Recent advances in the research on effects of micro/nanoplastics on carbon conversion and carbon cycle: a review."
  3. Reyna-Bensusan et al. (2019) "Experimental measurements of black carbon emission factors to estimate the global impact of uncontrolled burning of waste."
  4. "A Poison Like No Other — How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet & Our Bodies" states the plastics industry ranks fifth after China, the U.S., India, and Russia. National Geographic and The Global Carbon Atlas rank it fourth.
  5. Beyond Plastics (2021). "The New Coal: Plastics & Climate Change."
  6. Shen et al. (2020). "Can microplastics pose a threat to ocean carbon sequestration?"
  7. Maity and Pramanick (2020). "Perspectives and challenges of micro/nanoplastics-induced toxicity with special reference to phytotoxicity."
  8. Brahney et al. (2020). "Plastic rain in protected areas of the United States."
  9. CIEL (2019). "Plastic & Health — The Hidden Cost of a Plastic Planet."