ESD researchers showed how growing environmental footprint of plastics is driven by coal combustion
The study, which has been highlighted in Nature, found that coal combustion for the production of plastics is responsible for most of the plastics-related carbon footprint of recent years.
Livia Cabernard, Stephan Pfister, Christopher Oberschelp and Stephanie Hellweg have recently published an article in Nature Sustainability, which analyzes the health and environmental impacts of plastics' global supply chain.
The research drew attention to the production phase of plastics, which is often overlooked compared to the disposal phase. The assessment revealed that "Coal-based emissions have quadrupled since 1995, causing almost half of the plastics-related carbon and particulate-matter-related health footprint in 2015". The policy recommendations include "phasing out coal, transitioning to renewables and improving the energy efficiency in the plastics production process".
Additionally, the results showed that most of plastic production occurs in low-income countries, although the products are mainly used in high-income countries. Hence, they suggest that "high-income regions invest in clean energy production throughout the supply chain".
The study also appeared in the external pageresearch highlights of Naturecall_made.
external pageHerecall_made, the link to the article.