Carbon dioxide cycles in the formation and use of fossil fuels and their effect on climate change

Abstract

Carbon dioxide is a molecule that has been around since the early stages of the formation of Earth until the present day as part of various carbon transformation cycles. The most important of these is the process involved in the conversion of inorganic carbon into organic carbon catalyzed by the Rubisco enzyme. This reaction was the beginning of life on earth, as well as the mechanism used by nature to store energy and produce what we know today as fossil fuels. This review presents an analysis of the changes of the CO2 atmospheric concentration and of the complex chemical structures that characterize some of the fossil fuels and the chemical mechanisms used today to recover that stored energy. By using these fuels CO2 is generated again. The accelerated use of fossil fuels in the last 150 years is bringing the Earth to a critical situation concerning the rise of the planet’s surface temperature. Urgent actions are required to keep this increase 1.5 oC below that of the pre-industrial era to avoid catastrophic results for life on earth.