Climate Change |
The United Kingdom’s Climate Change Programme was launched in November 2000 by the British government in response to its commitment agreed at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The 2000 programme was updated in March 2006 following a review launched in September 2004. One of the stated aims of the 2000 programme was to improve the energy efficiency requirements of the Building Regulations. |
Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans in recent decades. An increase in global temperatures can in turn cause other changes, including a rising sea level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. |
In 2004, the UK was the world's 8th greatest producer of carbon emissions, producing around 2.3% of the total generated from fossil fuels. |
Increased amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases are the primary causes of the human-induced component of warming. They are released by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing and agriculture, etc. and lead to an increase in the greenhouse effect. The latest data, as of March 2006, shows CO2 levels now stand at 381 parts per million (ppm) — 100ppm above the pre-industrial average. |
| The greenhouse effect, first discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824, and first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896, is the process in which the absorption of infrared radiation by an atmosphere warms a planet. Without these greenhouse gases however, the Earth's surface would be up to 30 °C cooler – and presently uninhabitable! |
Please click here to visit the new Act on CO2 website and calculate your carbon footprint. |
