Scientists warn about rising carbon dioxide levels
126 views · Published 11 December 2018 · 1:29 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(6 Dec 2018) Scientists have issued a warning about rising levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, which experienced their largest jump in seven years, after several years of little growth. World carbon dioxide emissions were estimated to have risen 2.7 percent from 2017 to 2018, according to three studies released on Wednesday by the Global Carbon Project. The project is an international scientific collaboration of academics, governments and industry that tracks greenhouse gas emissions. The main leader of the studies spoke about the findings at the COP24 climate summit in Poland on Thursday. Corinne Le Quere, a climate change researcher at the University of East Anglia in England, said the increase was a surprising "reality check", after a few years of smaller emission increases. The studies concluded that this year the world would spew 40.9 billion tons (37.1 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide, up from 39.8 billion tons (36.2 billion metric tons) last year. The margin of error was about one percentage point on either side. The Global Carbon Project uses government and industry reports to come up with final emission figures for 2017 and projections for 2018 based on the four biggest polluters: China, the United States, India and the European Union. The US, which had been steadily decreasing its carbon pollution, showed a significant rise in emissions - up 2.5 percent - for the first time since 2013. China, the globe's biggest carbon emitter, saw its largest increase since 2011: 4.6 percent. The studies, based on calculations announced during negotiations to put the 2015 Paris climate accord into effect, put some of the landmark agreement's goals nearly out of reach, according to scientists. Still, Le Quere said she did not think the world would return to the even larger increases seen from 2003 to 2008, explaining this year's rise was due to some unusual factors. For the US, it was a combination of a hot summer and cold winter that required more electricity use for heating and cooling, while for China, it was an economic stimulus that pushed coal-powered manufacturing. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e568e731142e0171ea0160151e3f6566
