and oil to heat buildings (including homes) and transport. Of course, Carbon Dioxide is also given off by all living things, but in general plants capture as much as animals and micro-organisms generate. In contrast, Carbon Dioxide produced by burning fuel adds to the gases in the atmosphere and cannot be captured by plants. Why are CO 2 emissions a problem now, when we have been burning coal for centuries? It is quite true that we, in Britain, have been burning coal for several hundred years, but Carbon Dioxide emissions each year have risen sharply since 1900. These higher levels cannot be taken out of the atmosphere by growing plants and form the major component of the Greenhouse Gases giving rise to climate instability. The five principal components of CO2 emissions come from: Solid Fuels, including coal, peat, town gas (created from the coking of coal) and an allowance for net combustion of wood in excess of that absorbed by new planting of wood for fuel; Liquid Fuels, mainly oil, but with a little LPG; Natural Gas, typically from the North Sea Flare Gases, associated with oil production, refining and methane from landfill; and Cement Manufacturing, where CO2 is given off a by-product of the process creating lime. Data based on long term trends collated by G. Marland, T. A. Boden and R. J. Andres of ORNL Emissions peaked about 1960, and appear to have been on a gently downward trend over the past 20 years. However much of the