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Bridging the gap: a review on the interaction between (micro)plastics and climate change
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This review examined the two-way relationship between climate change and microplastic pollution. Researchers found that climate-driven changes like rising temperatures, altered weather patterns, and ocean acidification can accelerate microplastic breakdown and redistribute particles across ecosystems, while plastic production and degradation processes themselves contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, creating a reinforcing cycle.
Climate change and microplastic pollution are two of the most pressing environmental issues of our time. Both have far-reaching effects on ecosystems, human health and global biodiversity. Climate change, driven by the increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs), leads to rising temperatures, altered weather patterns and ocean acidification, which can exacerbate the distribution and effects of microplastics. Microplastics, plastic particles less than 5 mm in size, originate from a variety of sources, including the breakdown of larger plastic debris, microbeads and synthetic fibers. These particles are pervasive in marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, posing significant risks to wildlife and human health. Emerging research highlights intricate interactions between climate change and microplastics. Elevated temperatures may accelerate plastic degradation, while extreme weather events can enhance microplastic transport and distribution across environments. These dynamics may disrupt critical processes like carbon sequestration, potentially affecting global carbon cycles. Understanding the interplay between these two environmental stressors is crucial for developing effective mitigation and adaptation strategies. This review aims to synthesize current knowledge on the link between climate change and microplastics, highlight key mechanisms and pathways, and identify gaps in the existing research, providing a comprehensive overview of their potential synergistic effects, while, simultaneously, offering recommendations for future research and policy development.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Sedimentology of plastics: state of the art and future directions'.
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Climate change and microplastics: a two-way interaction
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This review characterises the bidirectional relationship between microplastics and climate change: plastics production and degradation generate greenhouse gases, while rising temperatures and changing precipitation alter MP distribution and toxicity in ecosystems. It calls for integrated strategies that address both plastic pollution and climate change.
Microplastics and Climate Change: Analyzing the Environmental Impact and Mitigation Strategies
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This review analyzes the relationship between microplastic pollution and climate change, examining how each phenomenon worsens the other and what mitigation strategies might address both simultaneously. The authors find that warming accelerates plastic fragmentation while microplastics contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, calling for integrated environmental policy responses.
Research progress on the interaction between climate change and marine microplastic pollution
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This review examines the two-way relationship between climate change and marine microplastic pollution, finding that rising ocean temperatures, acidification, and hypoxia can accelerate plastic fragmentation and alter how microplastics are distributed and ingested by marine life. Conversely, microplastics may affect carbon cycling and plankton productivity in ways that feed back into climate dynamics. The findings highlight that microplastic risks cannot be assessed in isolation from the broader context of a changing ocean.
Plastic Pollution and Climate Change: Double Trouble
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This accessible review explains how plastics and climate change reinforce each other — plastic production emits greenhouse gases, warming accelerates microplastic release from the environment, and microplastics themselves disrupt ecosystems that regulate climate — calling for integrated policy solutions.
Climate Change and Plastic Pollution: A Review of Their Connections
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This review explores the interconnections between climate change and plastic pollution, showing that the two crises influence each other through mechanisms including plastic production from fossil fuels, photodegradation of plastics accelerated by warming, and microplastics affecting atmospheric processes.
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