Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Abstract

Greenhouse gas emissions are currently on the rise, directly affecting climate change. Climate change will have negative effects on the environment, including increased flooding, heat waves, and droughts. The changes in the climate of the world are taking place at a very rapid pace. This means that the geography of yesteryears will not hold true for the geography of future. Several factors have been regarded as the root cause of these changes in climate; some of these factors are more complex to understand than the others. The paper discusses that the actions of both developed and developing countries that cause greenhouse gas emissions to rise, the effect of climate change, the rising temperature and global warming as well as the various steps that have been taken in the Kyoto Protocol and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Background of greenhouse gas emissions1

Causes of increase in greenhouse gas emissions2

Human activities2

Deforestation3

Lack of policy framework3

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change4

Kyoto Protocol5

Global warming and the developing world7

Temperature and global warming9

Effects of Climate Change11

Recommendations for prevention12

Cost effective measures of reducing greenhouse14

Conclusion15

References16

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Introduction

Greenhouse gas emissions are currently on the rise, directly affecting climate change. Climate change will have negative effects on the environment, including increased flooding, heat waves, and droughts. Due to their role in industrialization, developed countries such as the United States of America and Canada, must be held responsible for the increase in greenhouse gas emissions (Koh, 2011). In addition, developing countries must be held accountable for their practices and actions that have led to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions (Zaja, 2010).

The paper discusses that the actions of both developed and developing countries that cause greenhouse gas emissions to rise, the effect of climate change, the rising temperature and global warming as well as the various steps that have been taken in the Kyoto Protocol and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Background of greenhouse gas emissions

Historically, developed nations have contributed to rising greenhouse gas emissions. From 1850 to 2010, developed nations such as the United States and the European Union, are accountability for approximately 60 percent of energy-related CO2 emissions. On the contrary, developing nations such as China and India emitted moderate amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, giving a total of 9 percent (Environmental Protection Agency Documents and Publications, 2010).

From the beginning of the aforementioned time period, industrialization was primarily the motive for the increase of greenhouse gas emissions in the environment. Furthermore due to industrialization as well as other environmentally hazardous activities, greenhouse gas emissions are prevalent in the atmosphere, “in the last few hundred years, industrialization and burning of fossil fuels have increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.” Hence, global warming increased further which deteriorated the environment in the present day (Guo, 2012). This has precarious long-term effects for the environment and human health and wellbeing. Hence, the behavior of wealthy, developed nations in the past, have significantly caused the increased amount of greenhouse gas emissions prevalent in the atmosphere nowadays ...