Global warming potential

Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere over a specific time period, relative to carbon dioxide. It is a dimensionless quantity expressed as a multiple of warming caused by the same mass of CO2. Therefore, by definition CO2 has a GWP of 1.

For other gases, it depends on how strongly the gas absorbs thermal radiation, how quickly it leaves the atmosphere, and the time frame considered.

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Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

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