… to take forward this agenda and to undertake further work to establish pathways to carbon neutrality by 2030, both as an organisation and on a borough-wide basis. 3. Background The Carbon Cycle and Human-induced Climate Change 3.1 Carbon is sometimes described as the backbone of life on earth. Every living organism has carbon atoms incorporated in their cells and, through a natural…
… process known as the carbon cycle, those stores of carbon are recycled between living organisms and the environment. 3.2 The carbon cycle has both fast and slow elements, the latter operating over timescales of millions of years. In the fast carbon cycle that is most relevant for our purposes: - Carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2) from aerobic respiration (the breathing…
… - is resulting in a net increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. In short, the carbon cycle is being thrown out of balance as a result of our current dependence upon fossil fuels. This imbalance is being exacerbated by deforestation and other land use practices that reduce the ability of the earth to absorb atmospheric CO2. 3.5 CO2 is one of a number of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that also include methane…