FACT BRIEF

Is carbon dioxide a pollutant?

Thursday, April 8, 2021

By John Cook

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YES

Increased atmospheric CO2 from human activities is warming the planet. This poses many threats, including more extreme and destructive weather events, expanded disease vectors, biodiversity loss, and sea-level rise, which could displace billions of coastal dwellers.

The Clean Air Act mandates that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency keep a list of pollutants that “may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.” In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that CO2 and other greenhouse gases are pollutants that may be regulated by the EPA.

The misconception that CO2 cannot be a pollutant because it helps plants grow oversimplifies its impact on the climate, which includes the aforementioned threats. Additionally, while more CO2 spurs photosynthesis and reduces water loss in crops, it also exacerbates drought and desertification, making its long-term impact on agriculture unclear.

See a full discussion of this at Skeptical Science

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

NASA The Effects of Climate Change

Cornell Chronicle Rising seas could result in 2 billion refugees by 2100

Environmental Protection Agency Final Rule for Finding That Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Aircraft Cause or Contribute to Air Pollution That May Reasonably Be Anticipated To Endanger Public Health and Welfare

US Department of Justice Massachusetts V. EPA

NASA Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Will Help and Hurt Crops

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Skeptical Science

Skeptical Science is a non-profit science education organization. Our goal is to remove a roadblock to climate action by building public resilience against climate misinformation. We achieve this by publishing debunking of climate myths as well as providing resources for educators, communicators, scientists, and the general public. Skeptical Science was founded and is led by John Cook, a Senior Research Fellow with the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change at the University of Melbourne.

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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.