CO2 Facts and Figures

Some CO2 facts:

CO2 is transparent to visible light, opaque to infrared. CO2 contributes about 5 or 6 degrees Celsius to the total Greenhouse Effect which warms the Earth by about 33C. Most of the rest is due to water vapor.

In 1850, there were 2100 billion tonnes of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere.
In 2005, there were 2800 billion tonnes of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere.

In 2005, humans burned

3.9 billion tonnes of oil,
2.9 billion tonnes of coal (oil equivalent units),
2.5 billion tonnes of natural gas (oil equivalent units).

In 2005, the burning of fossil fuels added about 26 billion tonnes of CO2 to the Earth's atmosphere.

By 2030, emissions of CO2 from fossil fuels will have increased to 43 billion tonnes a year.

References:

http://www.bp.com/productlanding.do?categoryId=6842&contentId=7021390
http://www.hydrogen.co.uk/h2_now/journal/articles/2_global_warming.htm
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/emissions.html