What produces greenhouse gas emissions?

There are 2 ways that greenhouse gases enters our atmosphere, one of them being from natural processes for example animal, human and plant respiration. The other way greenhouse gases enters our atmosphere is by way of what is called "human activities", things that would not normally happen in nature such as the extraction and burning of coal or the production of plastics.

To know how to reduce your emissions you need to know what are the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. For each of the core greenhouse gases we have listed, by order of importance, the activities that produce the majority of their emissions. The great majority of the emissions are coming from a small number of activities so it's easy to figure out how you can reduce your impact. The main sources of greenhouse gas emissions are: fossil fuel use, livestock, artificial soil fertilization, landfills and the production of foams, aerosols, refrigerators and air conditioners. Let's take a closer look for each type of greenhouse gas:

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)	Methane (CH4)
To learn more about the main sources of CO2 emissions click here	To learn more about the main sources of methane emissions click here
Nitrous Oxide (N2O)	Fluorinated Gases
To learn more about the main sources of N2O emissions click here	To learn more about the main sources of fluorinated gases emissions click here

Some of the data discussed in this section is taken from the EPA's U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Reports. While the numbers may not apply specifically to your region or country, they are generally true for most of the industrialized countries of the world. These countries are responsable for about 78.8% of all greenhouse gas polution world wide.¹

¹ U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center