Infographic - The causes of increases in CO2 emissions

Since the Industrial Revolution, human sources of carbon dioxide emissions have been growing. Human activities such as the burning of oil, coal and gas, as well as deforestation are the primary cause of the increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

Natural sources of carbon dioxide have been stable but human emissions have been increasing rapidly. In the last 20 years, human emissions have increased by 50%.

87 percent of all human-produced carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil. The remainder results from the clearing of forests and other land use changes (9%), as well as some industrial processes such as cement manufacturing (4%).

Each day new greenhouse gases emissions further accelerate these changes. Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions can have a real impact and fight the effects of greenhouse gas pollution.

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