What are greenhouse gas emissions?
Greenhouse gases are the gases in the Earth’s atmosphere that cause what is known as “the greenhouse effect.” The greenhouse effect is the way in which heat becomes trapped close to the Earth’s surface by greenhouse gases. The major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These heat-trapping gases can be compared to a blanket wrapped around the planet, keeping the Earth warmer than it would be without them. They act much like the walls of a greenhouse, and without this greenhouse effect, temperatures would drop to as low as 18˚C (-0.4˚F) – making the planet too cold to sustain life.
However, a build-up of greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide (CO2), is causing the warming of the climate, which can have many adverse effects on populations throughout the world. There are both natural and human sources of CO2 emissions, with natural sources including ocean release and decomposition. Human sources of these emissions include energy production, the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Human activity has increased the number of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which has resulted in greater amounts of heat, causing the planet to become warmer over time. This is what has become known as global warming.
Global warming results in many serious changes to the environment, impacting all elements of life. The rising temperatures are causing a rise in sea level, leading to the loss of coastal land, a significant change in precipitation patterns, a threat to biodiversity and an increased risk of floods and droughts [ref].
Human activities are responsible for almost all of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere over the last 150 years. The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in the United States comes from the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation [ref].
In 2020, the transportation sector was responsible for 27% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, with 90% of these emissions primarily coming from the burning of petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline and diesel [ref]. Electricity production made up 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US in 2020, with 60% of the emissions coming from the burning of coal and natural gas [ref]. 24% of US greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 are attributed to the industry, while 13% are from the residential and commercial property due to the burning of fossil fuel for heat as well as waste handling. Agriculture was responsible for 11% of greenhouse gas emissions [ref], while land use and forestry made up 13% of US greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 [ref].
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Is Carbon Dioxide (CO2) a major greenhouse gas?
Carbon is the 4th most abundant element. Carbon dioxide is naturally present in the planet’s atmosphere as part of the Earth’s carbon cycle (the natural circulation of carbon). However, human activities are altering the natural carbon cycle by adding more carbon dioxide to the Earth’s atmosphere. This influences the ability of natural sinks, such as soils and forests, to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activity, and between 1970 and 2004, carbon dioxide emissions increased by 80% [ref]. In fact, in 2020, greenhouse gas accounted for 79% of all US greenhouse gas emissions from human activity [ref]. Climate.gov has also stated that the annual rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the past 60 years is estimated to be around 100 times faster than previous natural increases that occurred at the end of the last ice age. With this significant rise in numbers, global warming is taking a considerable toll across the globe, resulting in many serious alterations to the environment.
The Paris Agreement agrees that carbon reductions and carbon offsetting (the reduction, avoidance or removal of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere) projects are necessary to help in the mitigation of climate change. Businesses need to understand their emissions in order to mitigate and reduce them. Today, businesses are seeking to mitigate carbon emissions through advanced technologies, satellite tracking and data analysis.
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Mitigation strategies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions
Space technology is playing a major role in the reduction and mitigation of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. These technologies help investors, industrial sectors, organizations, and companies reduce their carbon footprint significantly.
The demand for independent and attributable emissions data on the second most important greenhouse gas (CO2) grew rapidly over the years, especially with the emergence of Environmental and Social Governance (ESG). In response, GHGSat is launching the world’s first commercial hosted-payload dedicated to measuring CO2 from industrial emitters.
With proprietary leading-edge emission monitoring technologies, GHGSat delivers actionable metrics and insights critical to industries and governments for environmental and financial decision-making. Some of the key methane mitigation products and services offered by the company include:
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DATA.SAT: With a proprietary satellite constellation, DATA.SAT delivers high-resolution data to identify precise sources of emissions down to individual facilities, assisting in the monitoring, measurement and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale.
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Emissions Analytics: With precision emissions intelligence, GHGSat analyses trends and emission patterns to help businesses make better decisions, discover mitigation opportunities and fully streamline operations.
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Global Survey: Leverages public and private third-party satellite emissions data to provide timely analysis of large emissions events to operators.
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SPECTRA: The world’s first emissions intelligence platform designed to support both high-resolution data and macro datasets. It centralizes all of GHGSat’s products and services into a clean and intuitive interface. Teams can access, analyze and communicate the right information to initiate effective emission mitigation strategies across your organization.
Effective emissions reduction strategies and policies to reduce carbon emissions rely on good data. It is vital that organizations take the right action to meet sustainable development goals and reduce emissions with accurate, transparent and timely measurements of greenhouse gas emissions. To ensure the proper regulations and reduction plans are put in place, consistent and reliable emissions monitoring is critical.
GHGSat has the technology to do this today.
