Climate change in the UKOTs an overview of the ... - JNCC - Defra

Land use (18%)
Agriculture (14%)
Waste (3%)
Other energy related
(5%)
NON-ENERGY
EMISSIONS
Waste
Agriculture
Land use
Industry (14%)
Power (24%)
Transport (14%)
Buildings
(8%)
ENERGY EMISSIONS
Power
Transport
Buildings
Industry
Other energy related
Figure 7. Greenhouse-gas emissions in
2000, by source. Source: Prepared by Stern Review,
from data drawn from World Resources Institute Climate
Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) on-line database version 3.0.
technological advances over the past 60
to 100 years that have offered humankind
countless benefits and conveniences.
These increases in human activity, however,
have also led to an additional release
of greenhouse gases that have placed
stress on natural processes.
Some of the gases, such as carbon
dioxide, water vapour, methane, nitrous
oxide, and ozone are the result
of both natural and human
processes. Others, notably fluorinated
gases, are generated
solely by human activities. The
sources of these gas emissions
include burning fossil fuels to
power our way of life, industrial
processes, urbanisation and
land use, agriculture and deforestation
(Figure 7 and Box 4).
Since the beginning of the
industrial revolution, concentrations
of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere have increased
nearly 30 per cent (Figure 7),
methane concentrations have
more than doubled, and nitrous
CO 2 Concentrations (ppmv)
380
360
340
320
300
280
260
0
oxide concentrations have risen by about
15 per cent.
Carbon dioxide and the increase in
warming
Carbon dioxide is the single largest contributor
to the enhanced greenhouse
effect. Increases in carbon dioxide emissions
account for approximately 70 per
cent of the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Using ice cores from the Antarctic, scientists
estimate that the concentration of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the
pre-industrial era had a value of approximately
280 parts per million (ppm). Measurements
in 2005 put it at 379 ppm. The
2005 figures also tell a story of alarming
growth. The 2005 carbon dioxide levels
exceeded the natural range of atmospheric
carbon dioxide over the last
650,000 years (180 to 300 ppm). In addition,
even though there has been year to
year variability (at an average of 1.9 ppm),
the annual growth rate of carbon dioxide
concentrations in the atmosphere was
larger during the 10 years between 1995
and 2005 than it had been since the beginning
of continuous direct atmospheric
measurements between 1960 and 2005
(average: 1.4 ppm per year) (IPCC, 2007).
Atmospheric Concentrations
Anthropogenic Emissions
1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
Year
Figure 8. Trends in Atmospheric Concentrations and
Anthropogenic Emissions of Carbon Dioxide
Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
7.000
6.000
5.000
4.000
3.000
2.000
1.000
0
CO 2 Emissions (million metric tons of carbon)
35