Atmospheric microplastics may be warming the planet more than they cool
A Nature Climate Change study finds microplastics and nanoplastics in the air absorb sunlight and radiation, producing a net warming effect that outweighs their cooling. The warming is estimated to be a few percent of CO2’s warming—roughly five times the cooling impact from scattering—though the overall contribution is small compared with fossil fuels and depends on uncertain atmospheric levels of plastic.