We have created our series Eco HomeLife Explains to bring terms and concepts relating to sustainability to you in short and easy-to-understand articles. In this edition, we explain where carbon emissions and greenhouse gases come in.
If you’re interested in living a more sustainable life and have done some research, you will have come across carbon emissions. And sooner or later, the term greenhouse gases will have popped up.
These two terms are linked and are very important to understand global warming, climate change and how to live more sustainably.
So let’s get down to it…
What Are Carbon Emissions And Greenhouse Gases?
First, we need to explain the terms so we understand what we are talking about.
Carbon emissions describes the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into our atmosphere. (Korkmaz et al., 2023) They are sometimes also called CO2 emissions.
The release of carbon dioxide is a natural process and is part of the carbon cycle. This cycle describes the movement of carbon around our ecosystems: from carbon to carbon dioxide and back to carbon.
As every living thing on the planet contains carbon, everything contributes to the carbon cycle. When we breath out, we breath out CO2. Via photosynthesis plants take CO2 from the atmosphere. When they drop their leaves they release carbon dioxide as they decay.
So these emissions are a natural process. However, since the industrial revolution, carbon emission have been on the rise, and since the mid 20th century the amount of CO2 emissions has risen sharply every decade.
And these increased emissions are not natural, but human-made. (Falkowski et al., 2000) They come mostly from burning fossil fuels (e.g heating our homes, driving cars), change of land use (i.e deforestation), and industrial production, according to Our World In Data.
The reason carbon emissions are so important when it comes to the environment, is because this gas is one of the main drivers of global warming. (Anderson et al., 2016)
But it’s not the only one, methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and fluorinated gases also contribute to global warming. All these gases are called greenhouse gases (GHG), because they create a greenhouse effect on earth, driving up temperatures.
So this is the link between greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. Now let’s look what effect they have on our environment.
Greenhouse Gases Drive Climate Change
We have already said that GHG cause what’s called the greenhouse effect. This means they absorb the heat from the sun, stopping it from being reflected back into the universe. (Asenso 2018)
By keeping the heat within our atmosphere, they help keeping the Earth’s temperature at a level where life can exist. However, if there are too many of these absorbing greenhouse gases around, the temperatures will keep rising, which is when global warming happens.
The problem is that if the temperature increases by too much, the conditions on the planet change, which leads to climate change, with all its issues, such as extreme weather, forest fires, rise in sea levels, biodiversity loss, etc.
These gases don’t stay in our atmosphere forever. Methane only lasts about 10 years, nitrous oxide 120 years, and CO2 up to a thousand years.
That’s when greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide emissions are important. If we want to keep the Earth’s temperature at a level that won’t cause climate change, we have to reduce GHG emissions.
Because CO2 stays in the atmosphere the longest and is the most dominant greenhouse gas of all, carbon emissions are most talked about. So what’s the cause of these emissions?
Human-Made GHG Emissions
Although some greenhouse gase emissions are natural and part of the natural processes, many are sharply increased by human activity.
Burning Fossil Fuels = Carbon Emissions
60% of global warming are being attributed to carbon emissions, which means this gas is the biggest contributor to the greenhouse effect. (Grace 2004)
The predominant human activity that causes carbon dioxide emissions is the burning of fossil fuels, with the following industries/sectors mostly responsible:
- Heating – most homes in the UK as well as in the world are heated using fossil fuels, such as gas, oil, or coal.
- Electricity Production – although renewable energy sources are on the up, the majority of our electricity still comes from burning fossil fuels
- Transportation – driving petrol and diesel cars as well as flying planes, rail travel and marine transportation all contribute to carbon dioxide emissions through fossil fuel combustion
- Agriculture – many farming practices cause carbon emissions, such as soil disturbance, but the change of land use also has a big impact
- Manufacturing – many manufacturing processes involve fossil fuel combustion, including making metals such as steel or iron
- Construction – the single biggest contributor to carbon dioxide emissions in this sector comes from the production of cement and other similar materials
The Source Of Methane Emissions
The single most biggest contributor of methane emissions is agriculture, a sector which is responsible for a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. This is mostly due to livestock, such as sheep and cattle, which emit this particular greenhouse gas as part of their digestive processes.
However, rice production is also a large contributor to methane emissions. The rest of global CH4 emissions is down to:
- So-called fugitive emission – these are unintentional releases that can happen during leaks during gas and oil extraction, fracking, or accidents during transportation of these fossil fuels.
- Waste – when waste decomposes in landfill it releases methane
Agriculture Biggest Emitter Of Nitrous Oxide
This very potent greenhouse gas is mostly emitted by the agriculture sector. It’s released by soil microbes that feed on nitrogen.
Because agriculture uses nitrogen fertiliser, the amounts of nitrogen in the soil have hugely increased, which also led to an increase in N2O emissions.
The problem is that the plants can’t take up all the nitrogen that is used when farmers fertilise their crops. So there is more for the microbes.
Because such a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by human activity, it’s in our power to reduce them. And while the world largely agrees to do so, as per the Paris Agreement that has been signed by over 190 countries, progress is slow.
Carbon emissions and greenhouse gases are a tough nut to crack. So what can be done?
How We Can Achieve Reduced Emissions
You might think this is a difficult problem to solve, but actually, we know exactly what needs to be done. Climate change scientist have been telling us for years:
- Keep fossil fuels in the ground – if we want to stop climate change we have to stop extracting gas, oil and coal (Rayner 2020)
- Decarbonise the energy grid – we need to generate all our energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar, etc. (Babtunde et al., 2019)
- Move way from fossil fuel combustion in transport – this means changing to electric cars, development of bio fuels, etc. (Chapman 2007)
- Decarbonisation of industries – too many industrial processes are carbon or greenhouse gas-intensive which has to change (Barrett et al., 2018)
- Make agricultural practices greener – we need to adjust agricultural practices to become more sustainable to prevent climate change (Gomiero et al., 2011)
The ultimate goal with all this is to achieve net-zero. This means that we don’t add any more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, either by not creating any greenhouse gas emissions, or by removing the amount we release in some way or other.
So-called carbon offsetting schemes promise to offset any carbon emissions by various means, such as planting trees. These schemes are rather suspect and can’t really be relied on.
Carbon capture and storage, a technology that takes out carbon from the atmosphere and stores it safely is more useful. However, to scale it to a point where it can actually be used efficiently and affordable is still somewhere in the future. (Ma et al., 2022)
At the moment, the best way to achieve a reduction in GHG emissions is to address the actions we have discussed above. This needs a concerted effort from governments through policies and laws and industry by investing into technologies to make processes more sustainable.
However, if this thought, that it’s all up to politicians and industry leaders, causes you to worry and even experience climate change anxiety, know that there are things we all can do to do our bit.
How We As Individuals Can Make A Difference
Actions taken by individuals might seem small and you might think that they won’t make a difference in reducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gases. But there are two things to remember:
- Small changes add up – the more people make small changes the bigger the impact
- Mindset change leads to culture change – the more people change to an eco-friendly mindset the more likely this will also change the collective mindset and culture
Also, doing something, however small the actions, can help to reduce any anxiety we might experience from climate change and global warming.
So here are things we all can do to do our bit:
- Reduce, Repair, Reuse/Repurpose – shifting our mindset away from high consumption of goods towards low consumption will save resources, waste, and money – for example: from fast fashion to slow fashion
- Zero-waste – switching to zero or low-waste options, such as reusable instead of single-use or disposable, will reduce waste and the demand on resources – for example: from cleaning wipes to washable cleaning cloths
- Plastic-free – plastic is made from fossil fuels, so reducing demand for it will help to eventually phase out the their use – for example from liquid shampoo to shampoo bars
- Eco-friendly alternatives – where possible we should opt for greener alternatives – for example: from synthetic fibres to natural fibres
Every little, or bigger, change we make adds up and can have a big impact. The more of us making these changes the bigger the impact. But remember, we aren’t looking for perfect, we look for consistency.
Start small, make the new habits stick, and build from there. Talk about the changes you made with friends and family and get them on board to make changes too. Together we can make a difference!
