Carbon emissions reach new high

Carbon emissions are higher than they have ever been, despite the economic downturn, according to the latest research.

Global carbon emissions reach record 10 billion tonnes, an increase of almost 50 per cent in the last two decades, according to the team at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Fossil fuel emissions from sources like coal-fired power stations and cement factories increased by 5.9 per cent in 2010 as developing economies like China boom.

The figures, published in Nature Climate Change, cast doubt on the ability of the world to reduce emissions enough to stop global warming going over the accepted ‘danger point’ of 2C.

A separate paper, also in a Nature journal, confirmed that recent warming is caused by man-made carbon emissions.

Both studies come as the world gathers in Durban to try and reach a global deal that will force all countries to reduce carbon emissions.

However at the moment the UN talks are paralysed by the inability of the major carbon emitters to agree.

The US, China and India are all unwilling to sign up to legally-binding agreement that would limit their industry.

The UK, that is already reducing its own emissions, wants a deal to be signed by 2015.

Dr David Reay, Senior Lecturer in Carbon Management at the University of Edinburgh, said the latest research should add a sense of urgency to the talks.

“One tarnished silver lining of the global financial crisis was that it brought about a drop in greenhouse gas emissions. From this latest study we see that the drop was all too ephemeral and even the limp economic recovery of 2010 has put us back on a high emissions trajectory,” he said. “We now face the triple whammy of distracted world leaders, a scarcity of carbon finance, and a fast-closing window of opportunity to avoid dangerous climate change. For those striving for a breakthrough at the climate change conference in Durban, things just got even harder.”

The other paper by ETH, the technical university in Zurich, found that the world has warmed by 0.56C since the mid 20th century. For the first time climate models included both ocean and land surface temperatures.

Like previous models run by the Met Office the only explanation for the warming was man made carbon emissions.

Again Dr Peter Stott, Head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution at the Met Office Hadley Centre, said the research was a sign the world must act.

“This study confirms that, even when using different approaches, the observed warming seen over the last 50 years is dominated by man-made emissions of greenhouse gases. With similar results from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other researchers elsewhere this is further proof that the observed temperature rise we have seen can be attributed to human activity.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8933947/Carbon-emissions-reach-new-high.html