Carbon footprint man-made infrastructures resulted in a net loss to the atmosphere, -0.6 Mg C ha y. Carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and the emissions of other GHGs, are often associated with the burning of fossil fuels, like natural gas, crude oil and coal. While this is harmful to the environment, carbon offsets can be purchased in an attempt to make up for these harmful effects. The Kyoto Protocol defines legally binding targets and timetables for cutting the GHG emissions of industrialized countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Accordingly, from an economic or market perspective, one has to distinguish between a
Coal dioxide, a greenhouse gas that causes climate change and global warming. Coal is the largest contributor to the human-made increase of CO in the atmosphere, 40% of the total. In 2016 world gross carbon dioxide emissions from coal usage were 14.5 giga tonnes. For every megawatt-hour generated, coal-fired electric power generation emits around a tonne of carbon dioxide, which is double the approximately 500 kg of carbon dioxide released by a natural gas-fired electric plant. In 2013, the head of the UN climate agency advised that most of the world's coal reserves should be left in the ground to avoid