These adjustments would be made primarily at the local climate level. If mitigation measures were able to reduce the scale of change or extend the length of time over which it occurs, adaptation would be much easier. Scientists are seeking to understand the fluxes to and from these major carbon cycle reservoirs and how they respond to climate change. To do so, it is also necessary to understand why about half the carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere as a result of fossil fuel combustion and deforestation is accumulating in the atmosphere while the other half is held in other reservoirs such as the oceans or plants. Society's use of energy is the largest factor in this carbon dioxide generation.
Carbon dioxide is produced by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.
It is removed from the atmosphere through ocean absorption and through photosynthesis by growing plants. COP is the supreme body of the convention. It currently meets once a year to review the Convention's progress. The first COP was held in Berlin in 1995, the second in Geneva in 1996. The targets set under the Kyoto Protocol are differentiated.