Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Global Perspective

Energy sources will play an important role in the world's future. Recently, environmental problems resulting from energy production, conversion, and utilization have caused increased public awareness in all sectors of the public, industry, and government in both developed and developing countries. States have played a leading role in protecting the environment by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. State emissions are significant on a global scale. Emissions of CO₂ caused by human activity are generally considered the most important. Total world CO₂ emissions from the consumption of petroleum, natural gas, and coal, and the flaring of natural gas increased from 5,892 million metric tons of carbon equivalent in 1992 to 6,568 million metric tons in 2001.

Keywords:

• energy
• greenhouse gas emissions
• future perspectives

Notes

*EE/FSU (Eastern Europe/Former Soviet Union).

*EE/FSU (Eastern Europe/Former Soviet Union).

^a The decay time is a rough measure of how long the GHG remains in the atmosphere. If the decay time is 150 years, one-half of the initial amount remains in the atmosphere after 150 years.