A Response to Climate Change

Reporting Greenhouse Gas Emissions - 01

Despite slow progress in negotiations to secure an international agreement that would replace the Kyoto protocol when it expires in 2012, work continues in a number of jurisdictions to enhance accounting guidelines and to implement mandatory and voluntary systems of emissions reporting. Summaries of the main programs that businesses, government agencies and non-government organisations have adopted to date are presented in Tables 1 and 2 of this article.

Cumulative Emissions of CO2

An analysis of published data (see graph below) indicates human activity has been responsible for releasing more than 300 billion tons of carbon (1.1 trillion tons of CO2) into the atmosphere since the start of the industrial revolution and that this represents something approaching 55% of a total that scientists predict will lead to significant climate stress if the resultant rise in carbon dioxide levels is not halted. Although the figures used in preparing the graph do not consider other factors such as deforestation / change of land use (human induced) or increased acidification of the oceans (environmental response to higher atmospheric concentrations of CO2), it may be concluded there is not much time remaining for nations to negotiate quotas if concentrations in excess of 450 ppm (parts per million) are to be avoided.