When Holly Kaufman was 17, she woke up one morning and decided she was going to save the Earth. “That hasn’t quite happened yet,” she laughed, “but I’ve been trying hard ever since.”
Today, Kaufman is the co-founder of the Plastics and Climate Project and a Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute, where she and researcher Dr. Alice Zhu recently published Plastics: Exposing Their Climate Impacts. The report, she says, is the first to map what’s known—and what’s missing—about how plastics contribute to global warming.
“We know that the plastics industry is responsible for about five percent of global greenhouse gas emissions,” Kaufman explained. “But that’s not counting all of them.”
Most of the numbers we use, she said, only cover two parts of the life cycle: production and some forms of waste management, such as incineration. “We don’t count import and export, we don’t count transport, we don’t count use, and we don’t count emissions from unmanaged waste.” When those are added, the impact grows. “Plastics impacts are significant, they’re undercounted, and they’re growing.”
A life cycle that never ends
About 99 percent of plastics are synthetic fossil-fuel plastics, meaning they don’t break down in nature. Even floating in the ocean, they emit greenhouse gases as they degrade. “Vinyl windows and doors are emitting greenhouse gases,” Kaufman said. “Foam insulation is constantly emitting F-gases—very potent warming gases.”
Her research also found evidence that plastics are interfering with the planet’s natural carbon cycle. Microplastics in the ocean disrupt the “biological carbon pump”—the process by which tiny plants and animals store carbon in the deep sea. “We know that microplastics are affecting their health, their ability to reproduce, and their survival,” she said. “We really need to know how significant that is.”
In soil, the picture is equally concerning. Microplastics appear to change soil respiration, “basically making soil exhale more carbon dioxide and methane,” Kaufman explained. “We need to understand how much these plastics are interfering with carbon sequestration so that restoration efforts are actually as beneficial as we want them to be.”
The “plastisphere” and the atmosphere
Plastics aren’t just on land and in water—they’re in the air. “There is something now called the plastisphere,” Kaufman said, referring to aerosolized microplastics circulating through the atmosphere. “Moisture collects around them, diseases and toxins adhere to them.”
Scientists have found these particles in clouds, but the data are sparse. “There have only been five studies in this area,” Kaufman noted. “They may be increasing precipitation, and depending on the distribution of light and dark particles, they may even be increasing the melt rate of glaciers. This is where we know the least.”
What needs to happen next
Kaufman and Zhu are now pushing governments and scientists to integrate plastics into climate frameworks. “We’d like countries to ask at COP30 that the IPCC include plastics in its next major assessment report,” she said, “and even consider a special report on the climate impacts of plastics.”
They also call for research done under real-world conditions—“not just one color of plastic or one polymer”—and for governments to start accounting for plastics in national climate inventories. “Even if we stopped all plastic production today,” Kaufman warned, “many of the climate impacts would not only continue but continue to increase.”
At the root of the problem, she added, is a global system that still subsidizes fossil fuels to the tune of trillions of dollars. “The fossil fuel industry has pivoted to plastics and petrochemicals,” she said. “They’re looking at tripling production by 2060.”
From global policy to the shoe store
When her daughter moved to a snowy part of the country, Kaufman tried to find winter boots without PFAS, the waterproofing chemicals linked to plastics and health risks. “I called a major manufacturer,” she recalled. “They told me their new boots didn’t have PFAS, but the liner was made with their own brand of Gore-Tex—and Gore-Tex is PFAS. They wouldn’t tell me what was in it. So I said, ‘I can’t buy these unless you tell me what’s in them. I won’t put them on my daughter’s feet.’”
Her frustration reflects a broader need for transparency. “There are over 16,000 different chemicals in plastics, most of which have never been tested,” she said. “We need to know what’s in this stuff.”
