Climate change Ð the CO2 problem

Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of industry and accounts for about 82% of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions. Using data from the paleoclimate* record, scientists have measured carbon dioxide over millennia

Carbon dioxide level (parts per million)

100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440

400,000 350,000 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000

Glacial events: Ice advances and retreats roughly every 100,000 years Ð events attributed to variations in EarthÕs orbit that change amount of solar energy our planet receives

300 ppm: Highest historic atmospheric CO2 level

Apr 2017: 406 ppm

Apr 1958: 317 ppm

1750s: Industrial revolution

Glacial event

Last ice age

YEARS BEFORE PRESENT

Global CO2 emissions: 36.05 billion metric tonnes (2015 est.)

China 10.64

United States 5.17

EU 3.47

Russia 1.87

India 2.45

Japan 1.32

Iran 0.63

Canada 0.56

Rest of world 7.67


South Korea 0.62 Saudi Arabia 0.51 Indonesia 0.50 International shipping 0.64

*Atmospheric samples contained in polar ice cores and mountain ice, plus ancient evidence found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks

Sources: NASA, NOAA, Mauna Loa Observatory, EDGAR (emissions data)