CO2 Levels

Meeting our current and future energy needs by continuing to burn fossil fuels will lead to further global warming. Assuming all the countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol met their commitments by 2012, the vast number of additional coal plants now being planned for the US, India and China, and their consequent emissions, completely negate the gains that might have been made by the treaty (Figure A).

Additionally, substantial amounts of CO2 released into the atmosphere have long-term consequences. The planet can only absorb a finite amount of CO2 (Figure B). Of the 20 billion tons of CO2 currently being released into the atmosphere, approximately 10 billion tons can be absorbed by the planet. The additional 10 billion tons released into the atmosphere remains there, and fuels global warming. Continuing to increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is a huge experiment by the human race on our planet.

Paleoclimate information supports the interpretation that the warmth of the last half century is unusual in at least the previous 1300 years. The last time the polar regions were significantly warmer than present for an extended period (about 125,000 years ago), reductions in polar ice volume led to 4 to 6 metres of sea level rise.