Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a natural waste product for a number of everyday processes – including breathing. However, plants breathe in the opposite way to us, taking up CO2 and producing oxygen (it’s slightly more complicated than that, but overall they use more CO2 than they produce).
When plants die and are compacted to form fossil fuels (such as peat, oil, coal and gas), the CO₂ stays locked up inside them.
When we burn these fossil fuels, the CO₂ is released back into the atmosphere. So, every action that burns fossil fuels – such as electricity generation, travelling by car, train, plane or boat, home heating and cooking – releases CO₂. The problem is caused by the excessive release and by the fact that we are also reducing the number of trees on the plant – trees that could naturally take up some of this CO₂ and store it away safely.

By should CO₂ cause global warming? Once released into the atmosphere, the greenhouse gases (CO₂, and others such as methane and ozone) form an insulating ring around the Earth that prevents the release of heat and other gases from our atmosphere.

The Kyoto Protocol, negotiated by more than 160 nations, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by setting legally binding emissions reduction targets for developed countries. Under Kyoto, the UK’s target is to cut its emissions by 12.5% below 1990 levels by 2008–2012. However, the UK government is convinced that the UK can and should go further. The Government has therefore set a domestic goal to cut the UK’s emissions of carbon dioxide by 20% below 1990 levels by 2010.