Plastics poised to overtake coal as climate driver
By E.A. Crunden, Ana Faguy | October 21, 2021 | E&E News, GreenWire
Plastics production is on track to become a major source in driving climate change, according to a report out today that finds the industry will outpace coal in greenhouse gas emissions within a decade.
The findings, which stem from a project with Bennington College in Vermont and the environmental group Beyond Plastics, show that the U.S. plastics industry is quickly gaining on more traditional sources of greenhouse gas emissions and that plastics are already a significant source, with the petrochemical industry rapidly growing.
That never-before compiled data is being released as nations prepare for the U.N. climate summit, known as COP 26, in Glasgow, Scotland, next month. During a press conference today, Beyond Plastics President Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator, argued that global leaders should be paying more attention to the relationship between plastics and climate change, as should Congress.
“Our report has found that plastics is replacing coal as a major source of atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions,” Enck said, noting that while there is “general awareness” about the issue in government and the business world, “a lot of people don’t fully understand is how plastics is intimately connected to climate change.”
That lack of knowledge comes with steep consequences. “The health impacts of the emissions are disproportionately borne by low-income communities and communities of color, making this a major environmental justice issue,” she said.
According to the report, the United States emits a minimum of 232 million tons of greenhouse gases annually — on par with 116 traditionally sized coal power plants. That number is also set to grow quickly after a 10-million-ton increase from 2019 to 2020. With construction underway on 12 plastics facilities, and with 15 more planned as the petrochemical industry ramps up, the report estimates that emissions could see a 40-million-ton increase over the next five years alone.
The authors reached their conclusions through analyzing 10 “high-impact” stages of plastics production. Those include hydraulic fracturing for plastics and transportation of fracked gas; ethane gas crackers; plastics feedstock and polymer and resin manufacturing; export and import of plastics; and foamed plastic insulation. Chemical recycling technologies, plastic waste incineration and plastics entering water round out the list.
Looking at those processes, they determined that plastics production’s climate footprint will surpass the troubled coal industry by 2030, using May 2021 data from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis regarding the decline of coal.
Implications of that uptick in emissions are particularly stark for low-income communities and people of color. The report notes that of the greenhouse gas emissions reported in 2020 by the U.S. plastics industry, 90 percent occurred in 18 communities where residents earned almost 30 percent less than the average household. Affected residents were also almost 70 percent more likely to be people of color and were disproportionately concentrated along the Texas and Louisiana coastline, home to a petrochemical corridor dubbed “Cancer Alley.”
Earlier this month, a study released by Back to Blue, an ocean health initiative of Economist Impact and the Nippon Foundation, found that the United States generates more plastic waste than any other country (Greenwire, Oct. 7). That finding, coupled with company failures to make strides on plastics pollution, creates a grimmer picture for Beyond Plastics’ findings (Greenwire, Sept. 30).
A spokesperson for the Plastics Industry Association accused Beyond Plastics of cherry-picking its data and working against U.S. economic interests.
“Plastic is lighter and more durable than alternatives and reduces the overall weight of products. Lighter products require less fuel to transport. That’s a fact,” the spokesperson said via email, citing a 2020 Imperial College London study. That study, commissioned by Veolia, a waste management company, found that the life cycle of plastics performs better from a carbon emissions standpoint than a number of alternatives.
“If plastic packaging were replaced with other materials, waste and energy consumption would double, and weight and costs would quadruple,” the spokesperson asserted.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents plastics manufacturers, also panned the findings. ACC Vice President of Plastics Joshua Baca said plastics production does lead to greenhouse gas emissions, but noted the role that plastics play in advancing technology like lighter vehicles and wind turbines.
“Plastic packaging generally requires less material to perform the same function and is lighter to transport compared to alternatives such as glass, metal and paper,” Baca said.