The greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of plastics continues to find attention with a recent report published by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) in April 2024. In the past, this issue was looked at by McKinsey in July 2022 when they estimated life cycle GHG emissions of plastics.
According to the LBNL report, in 2019, the production of virgin plastics emitted ~2.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) into the atmosphere. This amount surpasses the emissions from both aviation and shipping combined, accounting for a significant 5.3% of total global GHG emissions. If current growth in plastics usage continues, plastics production could account for ~20% to ~30% of total emissions by 2050.
Exhibit 1 presents the GHG emissions breakdown throughout the plastics production process, as detailed by the LBNL study. This process includes extraction of fossil fuels, hydrocarbon (HC) refining and other non-HC chemical production, monomer production, polymerization, and manufacturing of plastic products. The global average GHG emission intensity of plastic products ranges from ~4.5 to 6.5 tons per carbon dioxide equivalent per ton (tCO2e/t) of plastics, in which ~50% of emissions come from fossil fuel extraction, non-HC chemicals production, and HC refining to produce feedstock for plastics.
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