CO2 sensitivity studies under laboratory and outdoor conditions as contribution to climate change discussions

Abstract

The EU considers climate change as an existential threat and wants to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and down to 0% by 2050 within the "EU Green Deal" and economic growth should be decoupled from the use of energy resources. It therefore sees fighting climate change as one of the most important targets1. There is considerable dis-consensus about growing CO2 levels in terms of temperature increase and their implications on living conditions. While the IPCC and the EU are predicting strong and negative effects some experts2,3 have shown that there are considerable flaws in the basic models, data and impact scenarios. With a low cost experimental setup we measured the IR backradiation from varying CO2 levels within a given N2 atmosphere. The results confirm previous findings about an infrared CO2 saturation within the earth atmosphere. Measurements were also performed studying potential thermal forcing of additional CO2 against clear night skies. These results and their interpretation should be seen as another contribution to the general discussion about correct climate measures to be taken