Thesis Abstract

during the studied period. These figures are larger than the inclusion threshold of many carbon

management programmes around the world. Statistical significance findings showed that natural

gas fuel and natural gas combusting stationery equipments are the major contributors of the CO2

emitted in the assessed industries. Also all the industries practice a poor CO2 emission

management. The study concluded that a significant amount of CO2 was emitted by the assessed

industries and these were majorly contributed by natural gas fuel combustion, the industries also

practice a very poor CO2 emission management. It is therefore recommended that industries

should focus their attention on natural gas and natural gas combusting sources for their emission

management     activities,     environmental     regulators     should     develop     an     emission

standards/programme where a cap or a predetermined maximum allowable amount of CO2 is

allocated to industries and there is need for consideration of the other greenhouse gas emissions

in subsequent studies.

Thesis Overview

1.1 Background to the Study

Warming of the climate system is an undisputable fact of the 21st century (Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, 2001). This average increase in global temperature is

unequivocal, as it is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean

temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level (IPCC,

2007). Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than

any preceding decades since 1850, and the period from 1983 to 2012 was likely the warmest 30-

year period of the last 1400 years in the Northern Hemisphere (IPCC, 2014). The globally

averaged combined land and ocean surface temperature data as calculated by a linear trend show

a warming of 0.85 (0.65 to 1.06) °C over the period 1880 to 2012 (IPCC, 2014).

This observed increase in global average temperatures and the associated climate change has

been attributed with a very high level of confidence and strong scientific consensus to the

increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) concentrations which is largely due to fossil

fuel combustion and to a smaller extent due to changes in land use and deforestation (United

Nations, 2013). These gases have been proven to be capable of absorbing infrared radiation as it

is reflected from the earth’s surface, therefore acting like a blanket, trapping heat, and keeping

the earth warm, a process known as the greenhouse effect (World Resource Institute, WRI,

2006).The Kyoto protocol identified six of these gases that affect the energy balance of the

global atmosphere and needs to be urgently addressed, they include, carbon dioxide (CO2) the

most prevalent, followed by methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2