Glossary:Greenhouse gas (GHG)

Greenhouse gases constitute a group of gases contributing to global warming and climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol, an environmental agreement adopted by many of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1997 to curb global warming, nowadays covers seven greenhouse gases:

• the non-fluorinated gases:
  • carbon dioxide (CO₂)
  • methane (CH₄)
  • nitrous oxide (N₂O)

• the fluorinated gases:
  • hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
  • perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
  • sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆)
  • nitrogen trifluoride (NF₃)

Converting them to carbon dioxide (or CO₂) equivalents makes it possible to compare them and to determine their individual and total contributions to global warming.

Further information

• European Environment Agency - Climate change
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Related concepts

• Carbon dioxide emissions
• Climate change
• Kyoto Protocol

Statistical data

• Greenhouse gas emission statistics