THE EXTENT of anthropogenic global warming caused by carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is a controversial and politicised issue and there certainly is no scientific consensus. However, some conclusions (and some important gaps) can be listed with a reasonable degree of certainty: • The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing due to combustion of fossil fuels. • The basic spectroscopy (the science of the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter) of the atmosphere and the existence (and critical importance) of the misnamed “greenhouse effect” is beyond doubt, as is the fact that the principal…