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Nature 393, 208-209 (21 May 1998) | doi:10.1038/30344

Open Innovation Challenges

Climate change:  The carbon equation

David S. Schimel1

Following the signing of the Climate Convention in Rio in 1992, and the subsequent conference in Kyoto late last year, there is a pressing need to find out more about the relationship between anthropogenic emissions of the main greenhouse gas, CO2, and the resulting atmospheric concentrations. In its reports1,2 dealing with 1994 and 1995, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provided estimates for a wide variety of scenarios, to give policymakers some information on anthropogenic emissions consistent with the aim of stabilizing atmospheric CO2at a range of levels (from 350 to 1,000 parts per million by volume).

  1. David S. Schimel is in the Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie, Sophienstrasse 10, 07743 Jena, Germany, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, PO Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000, USA.
    e-mail: Email: schimel@cgd.ucar.edu