The Climate Change Challenge

Long-term monitoring has shown that the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere is increasing due to human activity. This is causing the earth to warm and the oceans to become more acidic. Unless the amount of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere can be reduced dramatically, scientists predict that the temperature of the earth will continue to rise. This rise in temperature will cause the climate to change, sea levels to rise, and ocean and land environments to be adversely affected.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas

CO₂ is essential to life on earth. It is a vital part of the food chain for most living creatures.   It is commonly found in things we drink (such as the ‘fizz’ in soft drinks, beer and champagne). Greenhouse gases, including CO₂, prevent some of the sun's heat from escaping back into space, keeping the Earth warm enough for plants and animals to survive. Common, naturally-occurring greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that can trap some of this heat include water vapour, CO₂, methane and nitrous oxide.

The problem — too much carbon dioxide

CO₂ naturally moves into and out of the atmosphere in many ways. For example, living plants take up and use CO₂ to produce energy, and animals breathe out CO₂ made from using energy. However, human invention and industrialisation has greatly increased the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere, with the result that greenhouse warming is increasing rapidly.
When fossil fuels burn, for instance in a power plant to make electricity, large amounts of CO₂ are released into the atmosphere. CO₂ also comes out of the ground together with natural gas during natural gas production. Industrial processes, such as refining oil, or producing iron, steel, cement and ammonia, also release large amounts of CO₂. Other major sources of CO₂ include emissions from cars, trucks, ships and aeroplanes, and emissions from domestic sources, such as heating your home.
In addition, land clearing has reduced the ability of the earth to take up excess CO₂ (as there is less plant life to assist in natural regulation). All of these activities contribute to increasing the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere.

What can be done to reduce carbon dioxide emissions?

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous climate change requires that humans make many changes in the way we generate electricity, heat our homes and move from place to place. These changes include developing more renewable energy sources, switching to less carbon-intensive fuels and generally being more energy efficient. However, as fossil fuels are expected to be widely used in the coming decades, something must be done to reduce the emissions made from their use.

How CCS fits in

CCS can make an essential contribution to the overall greenhouse gas reduction effort by reducing the emission of CO₂ from industries and power stations that use fossil fuels. Most of the technologies needed for CCS are already being used extensively in a variety of industries, but are yet to be widely applied to power generation and industry at commercial scale.