The Current Rise in
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Sagar PatilThe Current Rise in
Uploaded by
Sagar PatilThe current rise in global average temperature is more rapid than previous changes.
It is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels.[27][28] The increase in greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere is also due to deforestation and agricultural and industrial
practices. These include cement production. The two most notable greenhouse
gases are carbon dioxide and methane.[29] Greenhouse gas emissions, and hence
humanity's carbon footprint, have been increasing during the 21st century.
[30]
The Paris Agreement aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to limit
the rise in global temperature to no more than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.[31][32]
The carbon footprint concept makes comparisons between the climate impacts of
individuals, products, companies and countries. A carbon footprint label on products
could enable consumers to choose products with a lower carbon footprint if they
want to help limit climate change. For meat products, as an example, such a label
could make it clear that beef has a higher carbon footprint than chicken.[1]
Understanding the size of an organization's carbon footprint makes it possible to
devise a strategy to reduce it. For most businesses the vast majority of emissions do
not come from activities on site, known as Scope 1, or from energy supplied to the
organization, known as Scope 2, but from Scope 3 emissions, the extended
upstream and downstream supply chain.[33][34] Therefore, ignoring Scope 3 emissions
makes it impossible to detect all emissions of importance, which limits options for
mitigation.[35] Large companies in sectors such as clothing or automobiles would need
to examine more than 100,000 supply chain pathways to fully report their carbon
footprints.[36]
The importance of displacement of carbon emissions has been known for some
years. Scientists also call this carbon leakage.[37] The idea of a carbon footprint
addresses concerns of carbon leakage which the Paris Agreement does not cover.
Carbon leakage occurs when importing countries outsource production to exporting
countries. The outsourcing countries are often rich countries while the exporters are
often low-income countries.[38][37] Countries can make it appear that their GHG
emissions are falling by moving "dirty" industries abroad, even if their emissions
could be increasing when looked at from a consumption perspective.[39][40]
Carbon leakage and related international trade have a range of environmental
impacts. These include increased air pollution,[41] water scarcity,[42] biodiversity loss,
[43]
raw material usage,[44] and energy depletion.[45]
Scholars have argued in favour of using both consumption-based and production-
based accounting. This helps establish shared producer and consumer
responsibility.[46] Currently countries report on their annual GHG inventory to
the UNFCCC based on their territorial emissions. This is known as the territorial-
based or production-based approach.[6][5] Including consumption-based calculations in
the UNFCCC reporting requirements would help close loopholes by addressing the
challenge of carbon leakage.[41]
The Paris Agreement currently does not require countries to include in their national
totals GHG emissions associated with international transport. These emissions are
reported separately. They are not subject to the limitation and reduction
