Définition
Gases of natural origin (water vapour) or anthropogenic (linked to human activities) absorbing and release again part of the solar rays (infrared radiation), phenomena at the origin of the greenhouse effect.
The main gases responsible for the greenhouse effect, linked to human activities, are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and the fluorinated gases (HFC, PFC, SF6 and NF3).
Emissions of these gases are weighted by their global warming potential (GWP) and expressed in CO2 equivalents.
The six gases monitored in the Kyoto protocol are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), HFC and PFC.