The scientific evidence supporting the link between global climate change and human activities began to emerge in the mid-1980s and was an impetus for the establishment in 1988 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was designed to investigate these relationships. Four years later, i.e. on 9 May 1992, an important international climate agreement was reached. The agreement was the legal framework for global action to counter the adverse effects of climate change (together with its related parties), which was the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In the preamble to the convention it was recognized that increases in greenhouse gases caused by human activity enhance the natural greenhouse effect with the result that the average temperature of the Earth's surface and the atmosphere would grow, which may have a negative effect on natural ecosystems and humankind.
The presented paper summarizes important factors that argue for and against the dangers connected with the emission of one of the main greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide. The discussion included radiation absorption characteristic in the atmosphere depending on the temperature and concentration of carbon dioxide, changes in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, and the relationship between the temperature deviation and the average value of solar activity.