Carbon Dioxide is the main reason for global warming. It is released from the burning of oil, coal and natural gas and these are the main sources for its presence in the air. In the alst 50 years its concentration has increased continuously all over the world by an average of 3%/year. After it is released in the atmosphere it stays there for about 100-200 years. This causes increased concentration which in turn causes an increase of the temperatures in Earth.
Recent sutdies have shown that there could be catastrophic changes in the environment if the global temperatures increase by more than 2 celsius grade. This will eventually occur if the CO2 concentration reaches 450 ppm (parts per million). This will happen within 20-30 years if the concentration of CO2 is to be increased at present levels.
This is the reason why the developed countries have started to take measures to decrease the CO2 emmission. In 2005, CO2 per capita was at about 4 tons/year, whereas the commitment is in place to bring this number down to 2 tons/year by 2050.
Sources of CO2
Main sources of CO2 are transportation, production of electricity and industry. Emmission from automobiles has become a problem worldwide since it has surpassed even the emmission from industrial sources. Not less concerning is the emmission as a result of electricity production.
Emmission of CO2 in Albania
Use of vehicles is the main cause for CO2 emmission in our country. A big contributor is however teh burning of waste near urban areas, cement production industry, oil raffineries, chromium industry, etc.
Source: World Bank (WB)
Comments and Analysis: Open Data Albania (ODA)
When analyzing the CO2 per capita indicator years 1970-1990 stand out as the years with higher emmission. The main reason for this was the heavy industries of extraction and processing, including here TEC-s as well. After the 90-s, the closure of these factories resulted in a decrease of the CO2 emmission as well by about 70%. During 1992-1998 it reached the lowest level, whereas after 1999 it started to increase with great speed. Consequently in 2004 it was 67% higher than in 1999.
Source: World Bank (WB)
Comments and Analysis: Open Data Albania (ODA)
Despite being still below the limit set by the developed countries (2 tons/year), the speed of grwoth of the CO2 emmission at a time when when Albania is not an industrialized country are worrysome. This situation is becoming worse when adding the fact that green areas are slowly decreasing, and we all know the impact that green areas have in lowering the level of CO2.
All the information is displayed in the table below:
Source: World Bank (WB)
Comments and Analysis: Open Data Albania (ODA)