CO2 Newsletter

The CO2 Newsletter was an eight-page round up of current knowledge about carbon dioxide build-up and policy developments. It was published bi-monthly from September 1979 to July 1982 by William N. Barbat, an American geologist who had been aware of carbon dioxide build-up from (at least as early as) 1967.

It is an ASTONISHING effort at trying to alert policymakers and broader publics to the true scale of the problem and the consequences for failure. Each issue also contains an editorial and one or more deeply researched articles by Barbat. Usually there is also feedback from readers.

I stumbled on a copy of Vol. 3, no. 3 in the National Archives at Kew in January 2025. Eventually I was able to make contact with a member of Barbat’s family, who very kindly sent me paper copies of all of the Newsletters. I have made searchable pdfs of all these, and am also creating html and other resources (a timeline, a citations index etc).

The Newsletters will be released during the course of 2026, on a roughly 3 weekly cycle, alongside analysis of them.

Release schedule

Publication dateVol/noCommentary
Jan 5th 2026Vol. 1, no. 1“A species capable of extraordinary insight, yet seemingly incapable of acting in its own long-term interest”: Professor Kevin Anderson on the C02 Newsletter Vol 1. no. 1
Jan 19thVol. 1, no. 2“An air of hopefulness and conviction that now feels enviable” – Dr Abi Perrin on the C02 Newsletter Vol . 1, no.2
Feb 9thVol. 1, no. 3“remarkably accurate statements” – Professor van den Broeke assesses “CO2 Newsletter” article on glacial melt – All Our Yesterdays
March 2ndVol. 1, no. 4“It is not knowledge we lack. What is missing is the courage to understand what we know and to draw conclusions.” Arwa Aburawa on the CO2 Newsletter… – All Our Yesterdays
March 23rdVol. 1, no. 5Gus Speth – “the greatest dereliction of civic responsibility in the history of the Republic”
April 13thVol. 1, no. 6
May 4thVol. 2, no. 1
May 25thVol. 2, no. 2
June 15thVol. 2, no. 3
July 6thVol. 2, no. 4
July 27thVol. 2, no. 5
August 17thVol. 2, no. 6
Sept 7thVol. 3, no. 1
Sept 28thVol. 3, no. 2
Oct 12thVol. 3, no. 3
Oct 26thVol. 3, no. 4
Nov 16thVol. 3, no. 5
Dec 7thVol. 3, no. 6