INCREASED use of plastic in industries such as packaging and automobiles among others can actually help reduce global carbon emission levels that is required to prevent climate change, claimed a study conducted by consultancy firm McKinsey and Oko Institute of Germany. The study that goes against conventional thinking that use of plastics adds to global warming, said that reduction in carbon emission due to usage of plastics in these industries far exceeds the amount of green house gas emitted during production of plastics. The findings are based on an analysis that sought to compare carbon emission through use of chemical (including products made out of chemicals such as plastics) and non chemical products. For instance, the study said that use of plastics reduces the weight of automobiles and enables lower emissions by making the vehicle more fuel efficient. This could probably also explain increasing use of plastics in automobile sector over the years. Similarly, in packaging despite a higher production footprint per kilogram of material, due to lower weight, use of plastics results in a lower overall carbon footprint. This means even as carbon emission for producing plastic is higher than glass, use of plastics for packaging allows lower carbon emission compared to glass. This is because plastics is lighter than glass. The study comes at a crucial juncture as various global agencies and representatives of different countries are negotiating at Copenhagen to strike an agreement on reducing carbon emission. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the current global greenhouse gas emissions are 3-4 times the planet