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Abstract:
Over 100 years ago, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius first pointed out that the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels was warming the Earth. At the time, neither he nor anybody else was particularly concerned. Greenhouse gases, such as CO2, water vapour and methane, absorb infrared radiation emitted from the Earth's surface and radiate the heat back towards the planet. The natural concentrations of these gases increase the temperature of the Earth by about 35 °C, and arc thus essential for a habitable planet.
