FAQs
What is climate change?
Climate change is widely described as one of the biggest threats to humankind. In response to this threat governments and industries around the globe are setting targets to bring about reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) levels.
What contributes to climate change?
There is now an overwhelming body of scientific evidence that human activity is causing global warming, with the main sources of greenhouse gases, in order of global importance, being electricity generation, land-use changes (particularly deforestation), agriculture and transport - the fastest growing sources are transport and electricity.
What is the Problem?
Earth is warming up see graph –and the warming corresponds with the start of the Industrial Revolution.
What is happening now?
Recent estimates suggest that, even if emissions peak in the next twenty years and then fall sharply, the impact on global temperatures will still be very large. The current concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is around 425 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide equivalent (380 ppm carbon dioxide only), and it has recently been increasing by over 2 ppm each year (The Stern Report). Because many greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, stay in the atmosphere for more than a century and the effects on climate come through with a lag, temperature and sea level will continue to rise during the twenty-second century, even if we stabilise emissions soon.
What can we do?
In order to preserve a high probability of keeping global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius, current climate science suggests that atmospheric CO2 concentrations need to peak below 450ppm. This requires global emissions to peak in the next decade and decline to roughly 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050. Such dramatic emissions reductions require a sharp move away from fossil fuel, significant improvements in energy efficiency and substantial reorganisation of our current economic system. This transition can only be achieved by far-reaching national and international climate policies
Where do these green house gases come from?
When we burn a fossil fuel – for example propane. Propane (C3H8) will burn completely in excess oxygen to form water and carbon dioxide;. These exhaust gasses are then placed in the atmosphere where they contribute to the greenhouse effect. 1 kg of Propane thus burned generates 3 kg of CO2 An average car produces about 2.3 kilograms of CO2 per litre of petrol used.
Globally, where or what Green House Gasses are produced?
- Some recent estimates show:
- Energy – in consuming fossil fuels releases 25.6 Giga tonnes or 61%
- 1 Giga tonne = 1 000 000 000 tonnes)
- Land Use changes cause 7.6 Gt (18%) of CO2 equivalent to be released into the atmosphere primarily due to deforestation.
- Agriculture releases 5.6 Gt (14%) mostly from soils and livestock
What is ISO 14064?
The ISO 14064 Green House Gas Standards were developed by an International Working Group of 45 countries, with CSA acting as World Secretariat. These standards are designed to help organisations and governments measure, report and verify greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In parallel with the emergence of regulated or mandatory schemes relating to monitoring, reporting and verification of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), organizations outside of these schemes are now increasingly wishing to monitor and report their emissions (commonly referred to as the organization’s carbon footprint). In response to this demand and to provide an international standard against which such reports can be voluntarily verified, ISO 14064 has been developed.
