Carbon Dioxide explained

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is an essential gas that is found naturally in the atmosphere.

It is crucial for plants that use it for photosynthesis. And it's a vital greenhouse gas that traps the heat from the sun in earth's atmosphere, acting like a blanket that keeps our planet warm enough for life. This is called the greenhouse effect.

Greenhouse effect - the blanket

  • As the sun shines, the light passes through the atmosphere to the surface of Earth. Some of the light is reflected back into the space (yellow arrow). But some of it becomes heat, which the greenhouse gases, like CO₂, absorb and redirect back to Earth (red arrow). This effect is essential to any life on our planet. And it only becomes problematic, when there is too much CO₂ in the atmosphere.

    Learn more on Wikipedia

CO₂ level highest recorded

  • Until the Industrial Revolution in 1750 the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere (blue line) had stayed the same for hundreds of thousands of years. But since then, the amount has increased by over 50% along with human emissions (gray line) - from 280 parts per million (ppm) to 425 ppm in 2024. This is the highest level in human history. And the annual emissions of CO₂ from burning fossil fuels continue to grow at an increasing pace.

    Learn more on NOAA Climate.gov

Fossil fuels drive CO₂ levels up

  • Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are the largest contributors to the increasing CO₂ levels, accounting for almost 90 per cent of all CO₂ emissions. The annual emissions from burning fossil fuels continue to grow at an increasing pace.

    The diagram above shows how emissions in each sector (left) can be allocated to specific end-uses (middle) and greenhouse gases (right).

    Almost one third of all the global emissions come from electricity and heating, with residential buildings accounting for 7.5% of it. This is followed by transportation, manufacturing and construction (largely cement and similar materials), and agriculture.

    Learn more at World Resource Institute

Excess CO₂ warms the planet

As there now is more CO₂ in the air, more heat stays on Earth. The blanket that keeps our planet warm is now too thick, so it's getting too hot. Our planet is warming faster than at any point in recorded history.

Climate scientists at IPCC have showed that human activity is the main cause of global warming over the last 200 years.

Temperatures hit records, too

  • 2024 was the warmest year ever recorded, at about 1.55 °C above pre-industrial levels. The trend continues and the collective Paris Agreement goal to limit global warming below 2°C (originally 1.5°C) is at risk. Every year, we hit new record high temperatures and the current efforts are too slow. We all experience the effects in our daily lives - intensified storms, floods, heatwaves, droughts and wildfires.

    Learn more on WMO press release

Risks are growing rapidly

  • As the climate continues to warm, the risks grow rapidly. The warmer temperatures change the weather patterns and intensify the weather events. Scientists warn about the climate tipping points - critical thresholds where parts of the Earth system can shift suddenly and irreversibly. These include melting ice sheets, thawing permafrost, loss of major forests and changes to ocean circulation. Crossing these tipping points would have life-threatening consequences.
    Learn more on Wikipedia

TED talk on tipping points - Johan Rockström (18:35)

We need to act now

To avoid more severe climate disruption and the risk of crossing irreversible tipping points, science says we must both reduce emissions and remove CO₂ that is already in the atmosphere — and we must start scaling durable, verifiable removal now.

Four key actions we need to take:

  1. Prioritise real reductions first - reduce fossil-fuel emissions at the source
  2. Shift from short-term offsets to long-lived carbon removal - move toward durable removal solutions that lock CO₂ away for decades to centuries.
  3. Support methods that store carbon permanently - approaches like biochar, mineralisation, long-lived biomass products or engineered removals.
  4. Align all offsetting with a long-term pathway to zero emissions - temporary offsets are not enough.

Our store focuses on number 3 - immediate, permanent and certified carbon removal.

Learn more of Oxford Offsetting Principles

Recommended resources

BBC - A very simple guide to climate change
NASA - The Causes of Climate Change
NOAA - Climate change: atmospheric carbon dioxide
IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
WMO - World Meteorological Organization
EPA - Climate Change
EU - Climate

Videos on YouTube:
What Makes Carbon so Important for Life? (3:51)
TED talk on tipping points (18:35)
TED talk on carbon removals (12:38)


Your actions matter! Start today.

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