Article - Climate change: the greenhouse gases causing global warming

The EU is taking action to drastically reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) as they are associated with climate change.

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Thursday, March 23, 2023

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The EU is taking action to drastically reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) as they are associated with climate change.
The best-known greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO2) but others, present in a smaller quantity in the atmosphere, may have a bigger warming effect.
Greenhouse gases act similarly to the glass in a greenhouse: they absorb the sun’s heat that radiates from the Earth’s surface, trap it in the atmosphere and prevent it from escaping into space.
The greenhouse effect keeps the Earth’s temperature warmer than it would otherwise be, supporting life on Earth.
Many greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, but human activity contributes to their accumulation.
Check out more * *facts and figures about climate change There are different types of greenhouse gases and their global warming potential varies.
Fluorinated greenhouse gases * (F-gases)* are man-made gases used in industry and they have a high global warming potential, often several thousand times stronger than CO2.
As greenhouse gases have different global warming potential, their impact is typically converted into a CO2 equivalent to make comparisons meaningful.
CO2 represented almost 80% of the volume of all greenhouse gases emissions in the EU in 2021, followed by methane with more than 12%.