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. It becomes problematic when atmospheric CO₂ concentrations rise beyond natural levels due to human activity.

    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. Global annual emissions from burning fossil fuels remain at historically high levels and continue to increase.

    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 CO₂ concentrations rise, more heat is retained in the climate system - the blanket is now too thick and it's getting 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. Recent years have seen repeated record-high global temperatures, and current mitigation efforts remain insufficient to meet agreed climate targets. We 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 significantly increase risks to ecosystems, societies, and human well-being.
    Learn more on Wikipedia

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

Why carbon removal is necessary

Science shows that emission reductions alone do not remove existing CO₂ from the atmosphere. Scientific consensus indicates that durable carbon removal is required alongside emission reductions to achieve long-term climate stabilisation.

Oxford Offsetting Principles highlight four key actions:

  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.

Remove Carbon Today focuses exclusively on certified, durable, ex-post carbon removal for individuals.

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
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)


🍀 Remove Carbon Today provides certified, durable, ex-post carbon removal for individuals, with public registry proof within one month.

Carbon removal at Remove Carbon Today is exclusively:

  • Ex-post and already completed
  • Certified and independently verified
  • Durable with storage lasting 100+ years
  • Issued and retired in a public registry
  • Confirmed with proof within one month

Common carbon removal choices

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