German financial giant, Deutsche Bank, launched the world's first real-time carbon counter that displays the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere on June 18, 2009. It is a 17-foot-tall digital billboard planted smack dab in the middle of New York City. Why did they do this?

Well, in 2008 the Deutsche Bank set a target to reduce its global carbon emissions by 20% annually and is committed to being carbon-neutral from 2013 onward. As a result, the Deutsche Bank Asset Managment Division has sponsored this campaign as part of a climate-change awareness and education initiative.

Is it accurate? The Deutsche Bank claims that the values are scientifically valid. The value on the carbon counter is based on measurements developed by scientists at MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) that includes all long-lived greenhouse gases covered under the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols (24 gases and aerosols). The current volume of gases estimated in the atmosphere is 3.64 trillion metric tons. This value is expected to increase 2 billion metric tons per month at our current rate of pollution.

This is a great way to remind people that even though greenhouse gases aren't usually visible, they are still a problem adding up by the minute. And they've thought of everything! The Carbon Counter itself is carbon neutral, using low-risk carbon credits to offset its energy use. The digital numbers on the billboard are generated by low-energy light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Want to see the number for yourself? Here is a link to the number updated in real-time on a website.