Contributors of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in Europe

TL;DR

This study develops a statistical model to identify key risk factors and interactions responsible for CO2 emissions in Europe's atmosphere, highlighting differences with the US and ranking the impact of various fuel types.

Contribution

The paper identifies only three main risk factors and five interactions causing most European CO2 emissions, contrasting with previous beliefs of over nineteen factors.

Findings

Three main risk factors identified

Five significant interactions among variables

Gas fuels are the top contributor in Europe

Abstract

Carbon dioxide, along with atmospheric temperature are interacting to cause what we have defined as global warming. In the present study we develop a statistical model using real data to identify the attributable variables (risk factors) that cause the CO2 emissions in the atmosphere in Europe. Some scientists believe that there are more than nineteen attributable variables that cause the CO2 in our atmosphere. However, our study has identified only three individual risk factors and five interactions among the attributable variables that cause almost all the CO2 emissions in the atmosphere in Europe. We rank the risk factors and interactions according to the amount of CO2 they generate. In addition, we compare the present findings of the European data with a similar study for the Continental United States [1, 2]. For example, in the US, liquid fuels ranks number one, while in Europe is gas fuels. In fact, liquid fuels in Europe is the least contributable variable of CO2 in the atmosphere, and gas fuels ranks seventh.