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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Power Plants (1/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Carbon Dioxide
Global GHG Emissions: 25 percent

Futtsu Thermal Power Station, east of Tokyo: Generating power by burning fossil fuels like natural gas, oil, and coal produces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other human activity, accounting for about one quarter of all global emissions.

In the next 5-10 years, about 40 percent of worldwide power generating capacity will have to be replaced. Making new power plants cleaner will be critical. (Photo: Reuters)

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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Deforestation (2/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Carbon Dioxide, Methane
Global GHG Emissions: 20 percent

Virgin Amazon rainforest borders an area of jungle destroyed to make way for farms in Brazil. Deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for at least 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The damage is two-fold: the world's capacity to absorb CO2 is reduced, while large amounts of stored carbon and methane are released into the atmosphere. (Photo: Reuters)

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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Road Transport (3/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Carbon Dioxide
Global GHG Emissions: 13 percent

Gridlock on the road into Beijing. Between 600 and 700 million cars, trucks, and buses worldwide produce about about 13 percent of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN. Passenger cars produce about on average 125 grams of CO2 per passenger-kilometer, only 5 grams less than airplanes but nearly three times as much as trains. (Photo: Reuters)

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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Oil & Gas Production (4/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Carbon Dioxide, Methane
Global GHG Emissions: 6.3 percent

An oil platform stands in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Extracting and refining oil and natural gas requires huge amounts of energy while it also releases climate-warming methane gas from underground into the air. According to the World Resources Institute, oil and natural gas production is responsible for 6.3 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo: Reuters)

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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Fertilizers (5/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Nitrous Oxide
Global GHG Emissions: 6 percent

Bags containing ammonium nitrate fertilizer are stored in a warehouse in Sydney. Modern agriculture relies heavily on fertilizers and pesticides, which are manufactured from crude oil and natural gas and which release nitrous oxide into the air, contributing to global warming. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a warming agent. The World Resources Institute estimates that farming is responsible for 6 percent of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo: Reuters)

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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Livestock (6/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Methane
Global GHG Emissions: 5.1 percent

A cow in Argentina has its methane emissions collected in a plastic tank. Argentine scientists say cows could be generating thirty percent of Argentina’s greenhouse gas emissions. Almost half of all global methane emissions comes from belching livestock, mainly cows but also pigs, goats and sheep. Methane is twenty times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. (Photo: Reuters)

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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Cement Production (7/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Carbon Dioxide
Global GHG Emissions: 4 percent

A laborer walks over newly made pipes at a cement plant in Yingtan, China. There is huge demand for cement thanks to a global construction boom. Cement production is very energy intensive, requiring first the quarrying of limestone and then processing of that limestone at very high temperatures. The carbon dioxide emitted by cement factories around the world accounts for nearly 4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the World Resources Institute. (Photo: Reuters)

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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Aviation (8/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapor, Nitrous Oxide, Aerosols
Global GHG Emissions: 3.5 percent

A jet airliner leaves condensation trails. The trails are formed by soot and water vapor from the plane’s engines. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that aircraft emissions of water vapor, nitrous oxides, aerosols and CO2 could be 2 to 4 times stronger than emissions of CO2 alone. Aviation is responsible for 3.5 percent of man-made global warming, says the IPCC, and it is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases. (Photo: Reuters)

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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Iron & Steel Manufacture (9/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Carbon Dioxide
Global GHG Emissions: 3.2 percent

The iron and steel industry has one of the largest carbon footprints of any single industrial sector. That’s because of the sector’s size and the incredibly energy-intensive processes of mining and transporting iron ore, smelting that ore into iron in blast furnaces and then turning the iron into steel. Together they contribute more than three percent of global man-made emissions, says the World Resources Institute. (Photo: Reuters)

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Ten Sources of Greenhouse Gases

Garbage (10/10)

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Methane, Carbon Dioxide
Global GHG Emissions: 3 percent

A man scavenges for waste to recycle at a garbage dump in Linfen, China. Landfill sites like this produce greenhouse gases because rotting organic waste emits methane. If garbage is burned, however, it emits CO2. Almost everything we produce, consume and throw away means greenhouse gas emissions today. Waste and waste water accounts for about 3 per cent of man-made emissions, says the World Resources Institute. (Photo: Reuters)

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Why Does an Insurance Company Care about Climate Change?

Insurance companies want to keep their premiums low. Philanthropy? No - good business sense. But natural disasters brought about by global climate change are threatening not only the lives and goods of the insured, but also the low-cost policies of the insurers.

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