Climate Dome - Change Tomorrow Today

Who is responsible?

Sorry, but if you're part of the human race, you're part of the problem. Carbon emissions produced by human activity are driving climate change. And the amount we are producing is increasing each year.

Hooked on fossil fuels

Since the Industrial Revolution, we've been burning fossil fuels to provide us with energy, power and products. These have been producing man made carbon emissions all this time:

• Traditional power stations, many unchanged since the 1950's, burn coal and gas to generate electricity.
• Oil is used to make petrol, diesel and kerosene for cars, aeroplanes and other transport.
• A huge range of everyday products, from fertilisers to plastics are derived from oil.
• Now add in the fact that the world population has grown from 1.6 billion in 1900 to 6.5 billion today. More people = more energy consumption = more carbon emissions.

Global carbon emissions by type (in million tonnes)

Note: to calculate CO₂ equivalent emissions from ‘carbon’, multiply by 44/12 (3.67)

Past and future atmospheric CO₂ concentrations

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001 synthesis report

What do you end up with?

Since 1800:

• Our energy use has grown a massive 20 times;
• Our carbon emissions have grown from virtually nothing to 24,000,000,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year, and rising!
• Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have almost doubled.

And here in the North East?

The bad news is we emit more per head of population than any other region in the UK. That's largely due to our industrial heritage.

Re-think, reduce carbon

Scientists agree that to avoid the worst effects of climate change and ensure we don't reach the 'tipping point' the human race needs to reduce current levels of carbon emissions by at least 60%. That means you, me, your cousin in Australia, your pen pal in Africa. All of us.

So what can we do?

Plenty. There are lots of solutions available to us, including:

• More efficient use of energy;
• Generating our power from more carbon-free, renewable resources;
• Developing new low-carbon technology.

We can all do our bit to bring about this change.

Percentage contribution to global carbon emissions