A reading titled ‘Role of Chemistry in Earth’s Climate’ by A. R. Ravishankara, Yinon Rudich, and John A. Pyle in the American Chemical Society. This article is part of the ‘Chemistry in Climate’ special issue and provides an overview of the links between chemistry and climate change. This short article describes how concepts in chemistry can be used to understand the Earth’s climate including the correlation between the release of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, aerosols, and global warming.

Students will be introduced to how the study of chemistry can contribute towards our understanding of the Earth’s climate and climate change due to anthropogenic causes. They will also learn about greenhouse gases, carbon chemistry, various pollutants and how they impact Earth’s climate.