Colored microplastics could be making global warming worse

Paul Arnold

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There's more bad news about microplastics. We already know they pose a risk to health and can pollute ecosystems, but now researchers have discovered that tiny plastic particles drifting in Earth's atmosphere could be a significant contributor to global warming.

According to a paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change, airborne microplastics trap nearly one-fifth as much heat as black carbon, also known as soot.

Microplastics are everywhere

Microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) generally come from the slow decomposition of large plastic products and synthetic fibers and range in size from billionths of a meter (nanoplastics) to up to a few millimeters (microplastics) in diameter. They have been found in every part of the planet, including drinking water, the guts of marine animals, and in Antarctic snow.

Previous studies into microplastics in the atmosphere underestimated their impact on the climate because they often ignored the effect that different colored particles might have on heat absorption. The color of an object affects how much sunlight it absorbs or reflects, which in turn influences how it traps or radiates heat into the atmosphere.

To address this knowledge gap, scientists from China and the U.S. first measured the optical properties of a range of individual colored plastics. This told them exactly how much sunlight different colors and sizes of plastic absorb or reflect.

Then they used digital maps of wind and weather patterns to estimate how many plastic particles are floating in the air and where they concentrate. Finally, the team fed all this data into a computer model (called a Radiative Transfer Model) to calculate how much extra heat is trapped in the atmosphere because of these particles.

They found that colored microplastics and nanoplastics absorb much more sunlight than previously estimated. While white particles mostly scatter light, darker shades like blue, red, and black can absorb up to 74.8 times more sunlight than uncolored plastic. The problem with this is that the particles then convert that energy into heat in the air around them.

A dual threat

The study revealed that the global average warming effect (direct radiative forcing, or DRF) from these particles is 0.039 watts per square meter. "Colored MNPs intensify DRF by 15.3-fold compared with non-pigmented particles," write the paper's authors. In some parts of the world, such as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre circulation, their warming effect was found to be nearly five times that of local soot.

The scientists add, "MNPs emerge as dual-threat climate forcers, simultaneously driving radiative heating and carbon budget perturbations."

Written for you by our author Paul Arnold, edited by Sadie Harley, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You'll get an ad-free account as a thank-you.

Publication details

Yu Liu et al, Atmospheric warming contributions from airborne microplastics and nanoplastics, Nature Climate Change (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-026-02620-1

Journal information: Nature Climate Change

Key concepts

continental aerosoleffects of climate changemicroplastic contaminationClimatic Processes

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