3.2 Which is more important – deforestation or burning fossil fuels?

Globally, burning fossil fuels accounts for about 80% of the human contribution to the enhanced greenhouse effect, with the remaining 20% attributed to land use, land use change and forestry. It varies in different countries. In most developed countries the contribution is dominated by fossil fuel use (typically more than 90%).

There are lots of different ways to look at energy and climate statistics. Some headline figures for the UK are that:

• energy use in buildings accounts for around 50% of UK emissions

• power generation accounts for about two-thirds of emissions

• transport (mainly private cars) accounts for over a fifth of emissions.

These web-based resources provide additional information

• Part of the UK Government's pages on climate change provide a useful summary of the main sources of global and UK emissions.

• The Guardian newspaper gives climate change statistics for every country and region.

• Worldmapper shows greenhouse gas emissions at a glance – with country sizes distorted according to greenhouse gas emissions.

• Annual statistics on UK emissions of greenhouse gases are provided by the UK Government.

• Source data for the UK greenhouse gas accounts are available from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory.