Global Carbon Project Report

The industrial revolution in the 18th century and the human activities such as burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have disturbed the natural equilibrium of the carbon cycle by adding 10 percent to the emissions. Apart from this,  According to a report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in 2011 the amount of heat trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had reached a record of 391 parts per million. But as per the new statistics produced by the Global Carbon Project, the emissions are set to rise again in 2012 reaching a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes.

The new figures indicate that global emissions from burning fossil fuels are now 58 percent above 1990 levels, which was the baseline year used in the Kyoto Protocol. That is the only global agreement in place that contains mandatory emissions reductions requirements. However, developing countries such as China and India do not have mandatory reductions under that agreement.

Some industrialized countries such as the U.S. have slowed, and in some cases reversed, their emissions growth recently due to the economic downturn and the increased use of natural gas for generating electricity (natural gas emits fewer greenhouse gases than coal-fired power plants). But those trends have been more than offset by the rapid growth in emissions from developing countries. In China, emissions grew by 9.9 percent in 2011, and in India emissions rose by 7.5 percent. That compares to an emissions decrease of 1.8 percent in the U.S., and 2.8 percent in the E.U. during the same period.

Emissions per person in China of 6.6 tonnes of CO2 were nearly as high as those of the European Union (7.3), but still below the 17.2 tonnes of carbon used in the U.S. Emissions in India were lower at 1.8 tonnes of carbon per person.

Although CO2 is still the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas, levels of other heat-trapping gases have also climbed to record levels, according to the report. Methane, for example hit 1,813 parts per billion (ppb) in 2011, and nitrous oxide rose to 324.2 ppb. The amount of excess heat prevented from escaping into outer space was 30 percent higher in 2011 than it was as recently as 1990.

During the 2009 U.N. climate negotiations in Copenhagen countries committed to a non-binding target of keeping global warming to under 2°C, or 3.6°F, compared to the pre-industrial levels. However, as the World Bank Report noted and the Global Carbon Project report also said, current emissions trends indicate that the world is on track for far more warming than that, perhaps as much as 7°F of warming by 2060. According to the climate scientists, the worst consequences of global warming may be unavoidable, such as several feet of sea level rise due to rapid melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, along with more extreme weather events and harm to ocean ecosystems due to ocean acidification.

About Global Carbon Project:
The Global Carbon Project was formed to assist the international science community to establish a common, mutually agreed knowledge base supporting policy debate and action to slow the rate of increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The Global Carbon Project is responding to this challenge through a shared partnership between the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and Diversitas. This partnership constitutes the Earth Systems Science Partnership (ESSP).