Carbon dioxide (CO2) is highlighted in the news right after an extreme climate disturbance appears somewhere in the world.
However, we must not forget that :
Without the combination of CO2 with water, catalyzed by photosynthesis, there would be no animal or plant biomass and no oxygen, so no life on earth
Without the ability of CO2 to retain infra-red radiation, one of the major elements of the greenhouse effect, the Earth would be too cold to be inhabited