The United States of America decided in 2001 not to join the Kyoto protocol to drastically limit the emission of carbon dioxide by reasoning that its negative effect on the climate is not as severe as often claimed. Indeed, as pointed out in this article, there is considerable evidence that the role of carbon dioxide on global warming is considerably less as commonly depicted. However, reducing the carbon dioxide emission means at the same time a most welcome reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels for energy production. Degraded in name as fossil fuels - oil and methane - are most valuable starting materials for the production of fine materials of any kind - plastics, drugs, materials - and therefore much too valuable to simply burn then. Europe, the USA, but also emerging economies like China have to become serious in their efforts to conserve fossil fuels. In times when Europe's cars are achieving 60 miles per gallon gasoline and governments and consumers are pushing the car industry to go far beyond this - prototypes for yje so-called three-liter cars that go 120 miles per gallon already exist - it is unbelievable in my opinion that SUVs - Sport Utility Vehicles, or should I call them tanks - emerged to become in short time one of the most popular cars in the US. The consumption of fossil fuels expressed as carbon dioxide emission per capita in the world (Figure left, click for enlargement) gives shocking evidence that in the so-called developed world we are using up our oil resources as if there is no tomorrow.
Currently, a number of concepts are being discussed to limit carbon dioxide emission or to counteract it. The underground storage of carbon dioxide, for example in empty oil fields, is one popular scenario. However, I doubt that the benefits for the climate really would outweigh the additional energy needed to carry out such a plan, not to mention the potential safety risks involved since storage under high pressure would be necessary and leaks could result in a major catastrophe - it should be kept in mind that carbon dioxide is a deadly gas already at a concentration of 8 Vol%, a concentration that can be easily reached since carbon dioxide is heavier than air and therefore sinks to the ground.
Carbon dioxide trading in a number of variations is also a measure that is believed to be positive for the climate. However, simply selling CO2 to poorer countries that do not reach a given emission quota cannot be a satisfactory solution since it neither does contribute to the goal of energy conservation nor the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emission. Carbon dioxide trading to invest in reforestation certainly is a reasonable measure that however again does not contribute to conservation of fossil fuels. Moreover, recent studies indicate that reforestation in colder regions is contraproductive, since sunlight is absorbed by a forest rather than being reflected from an empty, snow covered field.
