The Plastics & Climate Project
Identifying the data gaps to account for all the climate impacts of plastics
Repository
This is a small sampling of the nearly 6,400 peer-reviewed papers and additional reports and articles that we have reviewed and which will become a public repository of resources on climate-relevant plastic impacts. The resources here are grouped into the three major categories of impacts.
Climate Impact #1:
Emissions of greenhouse gases and black carbon from the plastics lifecycle
Greenhouse gas emissions from industry. Photo credit Roxanne Desgagnes on Unsplash
The following documents help identify and quantify the emissions of greenhouse gas emissions (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:
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C-THRU (2022) Carbon clarity in the petrochemical supply chain
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Ford, Jambeck et al (2022) The fundamental links between climate change and marine plastic pollution
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GRID-Arendal (2024), Climate impacts of plastics: Global actions to stem climate change and end plastic pollution
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2024), Climate Impact of Primary Plastic Production, Karali, N., Khanna, N., & Shah, N.
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Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty (2023) Policy Brief: Climate change impacts of plastics, 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
Microplastics in zooplankton. Photo credit Cole et al.
These documents help identify and quantify the climate-relevant impacts of plastics on carbon cycling, including on carbon fluxes, sources, and sinks:
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Galgani and Loiselle (2020) Plastic pollution impacts on marine carbon biogeochemistry
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Shen et al. (2023) Recent advances in the research on effects of micro/nanoplastics on carbon conversion and carbon cycle: a review
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Stubbins et al. (2021) Plastics in the Earth system
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Zhao et al. (2023) Effects of plastic contamination on carbon fluxes in a subtropical coastal wetland of East China
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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
Ice cover and atmospheric aerosols affect the Earth's radiation budget. Photo credit Chris Boutillier on Unsplash
These resources investigate the changes in Earth surface albedo, direct aerosol effects, and/or indirect aerosol effects due to environmental plastics:
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Revell et al. (2021) Direct radiative forcing of airborne microplastics
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Leahy (2019) Microplastics are raining down from the sky, National Geographic
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Xu et al (2023) Characterization of Microplastics in Clouds over Eastern China
Also see for all three categories of impacts:
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Villarrubia-Gomez et al. (2024) Plastics pollution exacerbates the impacts of all planetary boundaries