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Global warming: what is it?
The Global Warming It is the phenomenon that we define in Italian Global Warming, or the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's surface compared to the last century, as a consequence of the emission of ever increasing amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
So far, it is estimated that in Europe we have reached a level of between 0.94 and 1.03° C increase in the overall temperature*. The consequences of all this have an impact on the environment, on animal and plant species, and even on the lives of human beings.
To deal with this phenomenon, the European Union has implemented, as early as 2000, a series of strategies to maintain the rise in temperatures below 2° C. If this figure were to be reached, it has been calculated that already in 2050 Well half of the world's population would face aclimate emergency**.
On the other hand, the effects of climate change are already evident today, but there are still many actions to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and as a result Contain global warming.
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Greenhouse gases, what are they?
When we talk about global warming, Let's talk about emissions of Greenhouse gas and their reduction to counter the effects of climate change. But what does it mean exactly?
Even though only carbon dioxide is often mentioned, all greenhouse gases (GHG, Greenhouse Gases) They trap heat and heat the planet's surface, contributing to the overall rise in temperatures.
The first international agreement containing the commitments of industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, was adopted in Kyoto on December 11, 1997 and came into force on February 16, 2005. Greenhouse gases defined by Kyoto Protocol They are:
- Carbon Dioxide (CO₂)
- Methane (CH₄)
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
- Nitrous oxide (N2O)
- Nitrogen trifluoride (NF)
- Perfluorocarbons (PCF)
- Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
The global warming potential (GWP, global warming potential) expresses the contribution to the greenhouse effect of a greenhouse gas in relation to the effect of CO₂, whose reference potential is equal to 1. For example, emitting 1 kg of methane gas is equivalent to emitting 28 kg of CO₂.
All greenhouse gases, with their own GWP, together with the released CO₂ (which has GWP 1 by definition), form the total equivalent CO₂ emission (CO₂ eq). In short, The equivalent CO₂ is used to simplify the accounts and to calculate greenhouse gas emissions totals of an activity, industry or productive sector.
This equivalence allows companies to calculate their impact on the environment and entrepreneurs, institutional bodies and individual citizens to remedy the increase in emissions. All activities produce CO₂ and other greenhouse gases, so everyone's contribution is important. This means that, if even small businesses become aware of global warming, they can implement strategies to combat it.
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Which sectors produce the highest CO₂ emissions
Reducing the effects of global warming means acting at the source, becoming aware of which activities emit the most CO₂, reducing them accordingly, and undertaking compensation initiatives, through certified offsetting projects. A first step in the right direction is Calculate the company's carbon footprint. It is good to consider that every activity necessarily produces a certain amount of CO₂, but some have a greater impact, and it is important to identify them in order to know how to contain them.
According to a Estimate of the European Parliament dating back to 2019 data, The energy sector with the highest number of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. So, every time you turn on the light, your smartphone or PC you are emitting CO₂!
Below we find:
- the agricultural sector;
- industrial production;
- waste treatment.
Well, perhaps it could create a bit of confusion in the face of the data on agriculture. And yet Crops and livestock produce much more greenhouse gas emissions than you might think: cows (and in particular their flatulence) are in fact responsible for 40% of methane emissions in the world***.
A fact that has led several governments to establish initiatives to contain this type of emissions: in New Zealand, for example, taxation has been proposed for farmers who do not control cattle gas emissions; taxation that is reflected in the consumption of red meat, responsible for a significant share of global emissions.
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