Carbon dioxide
Oil
Coal
Deforestation
How nature is key to achieving a 1.5˚C world
GHGs are the gaseous constituents that trap heat in the atmosphere. They are released through natural processes (e.g. decomposition of biomass) and as a result of human activity (e.g. the burning of fossil fuels). Some gases are naturally occurring (e.g. carbon dioxide) while others are human-made (e.g. the halocarbons). Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the largest single contributor to climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change covers the following GHGs:
Carbon dioxide
Oil
Coal
Deforestation
Methane
Cattle
Fertilizer
CFCs & Haloalkane
Refrigerators
Aerosols
Nitrous oxide
Gasoline
Agriculture
The three main systems capable of storing carbon and nitrogen, known as “stocks” or “pools”, include the land ecosystems, the ocean and the Earth’s crust.
Carbon and nitrogen not stored in these pools resides in the atmosphere as a component of greenhouse gases.
For example, forests are the largest terrestrial sink - globally, their net removal of carbon is equivalent to 5.7 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (GtCO2) a year. This represents 45% of carbon dioxide sequestration from the land sink.
This is already happening in forest areas across the tropical belt…
This map shows the net carbon sinks (green) and sources (red) from forests across the period 2001-19 (MtCO2e). The largest sinks are found in tropical forests. The largest sources are found in disturbed tropical forests.