As India’s petrochemical industry expands, experts question how it will achieve its net zero target https://scroll.in/article/1014787/as-indias-petrochemical-industry-expands-experts-question-how-it-will-achieve-its-net-zero-targets 14 Jan 2010
Plastic pollution plays a significant role in global greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Devayani Khare

In 2019, a report titled Plastic & Climate: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet examined the lifecycle of plastics and identified major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, unaccounted sources of emissions, and uncertainties that lead to an underestimation of plastic’s climate impacts.

In October 2021, Beyond Plastics released another report built on previous findings, titled “The New Coal: Plastics & Climate Change”, to assess the devastating impact of plastics on climate, much of it happening with little public scrutiny and lesser government and industrial accountability. While both reports focus on the plastic industry in the United States – the worst global plastic polluter, the findings will hold true for other nations with expanding petrochemical industries.

Plastic is manufactured from naphtha, a crude oil-based substance, and ethane, liquid natural gas, with the addition of other chemicals, most of which are fossil fuel-based. Hence, plastic manufacturing is a significant source of greenhouse emissions.

A recent study identified over 8,000 chemical additives used for plastic processing, some of which are a thousand times more potent as greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. Products like single-use packaging, plastic resins, foamed plastic insulation, bottles and containers, among many others, add to global greenhouse emissions.

Most plastic cannot be recycled, only downgraded, and is often incinerated, or used as fuel in waste-to-energy plants, sometimes known as chemical recycling.