气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Growing environmental footprint of plastics driven by coal combustion

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DOI	10.1038/s41893-021-00807-2
	Growing environmental footprint of plastics driven by coal combustion
	Cabernard L.; Pfister S.; Oberschelp C.; Hellweg S.
发表日期	2021
ISSN	2398-9629
英文摘要	Research on the environmental impacts from the global value chain of plastics has typically focused on the disposal phase, considered most harmful to the environment and human health. However, the production of plastics is also responsible for substantial environmental, health and socioeconomic impacts. We show that the carbon and particulate-matter-related health footprint of plastics has doubled since 1995, due mainly to growth in plastics production in coal-based economies. Coal-based emissions have quadrupled since 1995, causing almost half of the plastics-related carbon and particulate-matter-related health footprint in 2015. Plastics-related carbon footprints of China’s transportation, Indonesia’s electronics industry and India’s construction sector have increased more than 50-fold since 1995. In 2015, plastics caused 4.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, 6% of global coal electricity is used for plastics production. The European Union and the United States have increasingly consumed plastics produced in coal-based economies. In 2015, 85% of the workforce required for plastics consumed by the European Union and the United States was employed abroad, but 80% of the related value added was generated domestically. As high-income regions have outsourced the energy-intensive steps of plastics production to coal-based economies, renewable energy investments throughout the plastics value chain are critical for sustainable production and consumption of plastics. © 2021, The Author(s).
语种	英语
scopus关键词	Coal combustion; Coal industry; Construction industry; Economic and social effects; Elastomers; Environmental impact; Gas emissions; Health; Industrial economics; Investments; Sustainable development; Electronic industries; Environmental footprints; Environmental-health impact; European union; Global value chain; Human health; Indonesia; Particulate Matter; Plastic production; Socio-economic impacts; Greenhouse gases
来源期刊	Nature Sustainability
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/249871
作者单位	Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zürich, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Ecological Systems Design, Zürich, Switzerland; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zürich, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, Institute of Science, Technology and Policy (ISTP), Zürich, Switzerland
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Cabernard L.,Pfister S.,Oberschelp C.,et al. Growing environmental footprint of plastics driven by coal combustion[J],2021.
APA	Cabernard L.,Pfister S.,Oberschelp C.,&Hellweg S..(2021).Growing environmental footprint of plastics driven by coal combustion.Nature Sustainability.
MLA	Cabernard L.,et al."Growing environmental footprint of plastics driven by coal combustion".Nature Sustainability (2021).