of global greenhouse-gas emissions from making virgin plastic
Making plastic produced 5.3% of global emissions in 2019, not counting farming and land use. A separate study put plastic’s whole life cycle at 4.5% of emissions in 2015. The two use different years and methods, so they are not directly comparable.
- Value
- 5.3%
- Unit
- %
- Data year
- 2019
- Trend
- Rising
- Source name
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 2024
- Source link
- osti.gov/biblio/2336721
- Confidence
- Evidence: High
- Caveat / scope
- Production only. Cabernard et al. 2022 give 4.5% for the full lifecycle in 2015.
- Verified on
- 22 September 2026
Sources last verified 22 September 2026. Page updated 24 September 2026. How we check sources