How climate change is reshaping the global #plastic pollution crisis
Climate change is actively reshaping how plastics behave in the environment, making them more mobile, persistent and harmful across ecosystems.
Plastic pollution and climate change share common roots in fossil fuel-based systems. Most plastics are produced from oil and gas, and greenhouse gases are emitted throughout their life cycle. As global plastic production has increased dramatically since the mid-20th century, so too have the life cycle emissions of plastics, as the chart below shows.
The relationship also runs in the other direction – climate change is altering the environmental conditions that shape how plastics behave once they enter the environment.
Warmer temperatures, stronger sunlight, shifting wind patterns and more frequent extreme events alter the rate at which plastics break down, disperse, and interact with living systems.
What emerges is a reinforcing feedback loop: plastics contribute to climate change, and climate change transforms plastics into more pervasive and harder-to-manage pollutants. Learn more about this system in this article from Imperial College London‘s Frank J. Kelly and Julia Fussell.