Publications
We now know that plastics, from their start to their waste, are polluting the oceans and fueling the climate crisis. The Plastic & Climate Project's research makes it clear: every stage of the plastic lifecycle emits greenhouse gases, and plastics may undermine the ocean's ability to store carbon. The evidence is growing, but so are the gaps in our understanding — and we have to fill them.
— Dr. Sylvia Earle
Report
Plastics: Exposing their climate impacts - what we know, what we need to know, & recommendations for research & policy
This report summarizes our peer-reviewed Frontiers in Environmental Science paper for non-technical audiences.
Authors: Holly Kaufman, Dr. Alice (Xia) Zhu, and the Environmental Law Institute (Cecilia Diedrich and Dr. John Doherty), with key input from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Dr. Karen Raubenheimer, University of Wollongong, Australia; edited by Dave Grossman.
Papers
The knowns and unknowns in our understanding of how plastics impact climate change: a systematic review
Frontiers in Environmental Science
This is the first paper to comprehensively examine what the science tells us about the scope of plastics' climate impacts. It analyzes the existing peer-reviewed data, identifies critical data gaps, presents a roadmap for continued research, and recommends policies and actions to support that research and to include plastics’ climate impacts in relevant models, scenarios, accounting, and analyses.
Authors: Dr. Alice (Xia) Zhu, Justin Konik, and Holly Kaufman
Policy Briefs
Literature Collection
We surveyed nearly 6,400 peer-reviewed papers and analyzed the key ones for our Frontiers in Environmental Science paper. Below is a small sampling. The rest, along with other papers, articles, and reports that we continue to collect, are available in our free, online, annotated repository of resources on climate-relevant plastic impacts - See our "Literature Hub."
Credit: NASA
General Information:
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The entangled fates of plastics and climate change, Neil Tangri, (2025), Cambridge University Press/Cambridge Prisms: Plastics. (Cites our Frontiers in Environmental Science paper.)
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Plastics pollution exacerbates the impacts of all planetary boundaries, Patricia Villarrubia-Gomez, Bethanie Carney Almroth, Marcus Eriksen, et al. (2024), One Earth.
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Constraining the atmospheric limb of the plastic cycle, Janice Brahney, Natalie Mahowald, Marje Prank, Kimberly Ann Prather, et al, (2021), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
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Role of Microplastics in Global Warming and Climate Change: A Review, Md. Sohel Parvez, et al. (2024), Water, Air & Soil Pollution
Credit: Chris Boutillier, Unsplash
Climate Impact #1: Greenhouse gases & black carbon
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Beyond Plastics (2021), "The New Coal: Plastics & Climate Change."
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C-THRU (2022), "Carbon clarity in the petrochemical supply chain."
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Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) (2019), "The hidden costs of a plastic planet." (Also available in PLOS ONE.)
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Coalition for Materials Emissions Transparency (COMET) (2022), "Making plastics emissions transparent."
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Ford, Jambeck et al. (2022), "The fundamental links between climate change and marine plastic pollution," Science of The Total Environment.
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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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Nihan Karali, Nina Khanna, Nihar Shah, (2024), "Climate Impact of Primary Plastic Production," Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
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Nihan Karali, Ellen Palm, Juan Baztan, Patricia Villarubia Gomes, Nina Khanna, et al. (2023), "Policy Brief: Climate change impacts of plastics," Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty.
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Royer et al. (2018), "Production of methane and ethylene from plastic in the environment," PLOS One.
Microplastics in zooplankton. Credit: Matthew Cole
Climate Impact #2: Carbon cycling/carbon sinks
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Galgani and Loiselle (2020), "Plastic pollution impacts on marine carbon biogeochemistry," Environmental Pollution.
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Sharma et al. (2023), "Contribution of plastic and microplastic to global climate change and their conjoining impacts on the environment - A review," National Library of Medicine.
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Shen et al. (2020), "(Micro)plastic crisis: Un-ignorable contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and climate change," Journal of Cleaner Production.
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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," Journal of Environmental Management.
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Stubbins et al. (2021), "Plastics in the Earth system," Science.
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Zhao et al. (2023). "Effects of plastic contamination on carbon fluxes in a subtropical coastal wetland of East China," Journal of Environmental Management.
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Zhu, R. et al. (2025), "A global estimate of multiecosystem photosynthesis losses under microplastic pollution," The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Climate Impact #3: Radiation budget
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Aeschlimann, Mischa et al., (2022), Microplastics and nanoplastics in the atmosphere: the potential impacts on cloud formation processes, Nature Geo Science
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Leahy (2019), Microplastics are raining down from the sky, National Geographic.
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Revell et al. (2021), Direct radiative forcing of airborne microplastics, Nature.
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Xu et al. (2023), Characterization of Microplastics in Clouds over Eastern China, ACS Publications.
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Zhang et al. (2022), "Microplastics have light-absorbing ability to enhance cryospheric melting," Advances in Climate Change Research.
Credit: Roxanne Desgagnes, Unsplash