• Home
  • FAQs
  • Contacts Us
  • News & Events
  • Home
  • Rwanda DNA
    • Rwanda DNA History
    • Rwanda DNA Contacts
    • Rwanda DNA Structure
    • Committees & Responsabilities
  • Climate Change
    • Climate Change Science
    • UNFCCC Kyto Protocol
    • Copenhagen Accord
    • Adoption Fund
  • Clean Development Mechanism
    • CDM Project Eligibility
    • CDM Cost
    • CDM Project Cycle
    • Project Developer ToolKit
  • Voluntary Carbon Market
    • VCM Project Eligibility
    • VCM Standards
    • VCM Cycle & Timeline
    • VCM Cost
    • VCM Difference from CDM
  • Carbon Market in Rwanda
    • Potential Sectors
    • Available Projects
    • Project Developer ToolKit
  • Project Approval Procedures
    • Project Approval Procedures
    • Project Sustainable Development Criteria

Climate Change Science

For over the past 200 years, the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, and deforestation have caused the concentrations of heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" to increase significantly in our atmosphere. These gases prevent heat from escaping to space, somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse.


Greenhouse gases are necessary to life as we know it, because they keep the planet's surface warmer than it otherwise would be. But, as the concentrations of these gases continue to increase in the atmosphere, the Earth's temperature is climbing above past levels. The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that the Earth's average surface temperature has risen by 0.76° C since 1850. Most of the warming over the past 50 years is very likely to have been caused by emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other 'greenhouse gases' from human activities.


Without action to reduce these emissions, the global average temperature is likely to rise by a further 1.8-4.0°C this century, and by up to 6.4°C in the worst case scenario, the IPCC projects. Even the lower end of this range would take the temperature increase since pre-industrial times above 2°C - the threshold beyond which many scientists believe irreversible and possibly catastrophic changes would become more likely.


The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an international group of experts formed in 1988 reviews scientific research and offers assessments of climate change and its effects.

  • Rwanda DNA
    • Rwanda DNA History
    • Rwanda DNA Contacts
    • Rwanda DNA Structure
    • Committees & Responsabilities
  • Climate Change
    • Climate Change Science
    • UNFCCC Kyto Protocol
    • Copenhagen Accord
    • Adoption Fund
  • Clean Development Mechanism
    • CDM Project Eligibility
    • CDM Cost
    • CDM Project Cycle
    • Project Developer ToolKit
  • Voluntary Carbon Market
    • VCM Project Eligibility
    • VCM Standards
    • VCM Cycle & Timeline
    • VCM Cost
    • VCM Difference from CDM
  • Carbon Market in Rwanda
    • Potential Sectors
    • Available Projects
    • Project Developer ToolKit
  • Project Approval Procedures
    • Project Approval Procedures
    • Project Sustainable Development Criteria
  • Home
  • FAQs
  • Contacts Us
  • News & Events
Copyright © 2015 - Designated National Authority