CO2 emissions increased a staggering 6% in 2010, a record rate of increase far beyond the IPCC's worst case scenarios, the U.S. Department of Energy reported yesterday. Rapid economic growth fueled by coal in China and India and economic recovery in the U.S. spurred the unprecedented amount of increase in greenhouse gas emissions. China now emits 50% more CO2 than the United States. The thin sliver of good news is that countries which signed the Kyoto protocol actually reduced their emissions on target. Without the success of the Kyoto signatories, the increase would have been
worse.
Figure source USDOE, hat tip to Think Progress
The world pumped about 564m more tons (512m metric tons) of carbon into the air in 2010 than it did in 2009, an increase of 6%. That amount of extra pollution eclipses the individual emissions of all but three countries, China, the US and India, the world's top producers of greenhouse gases.
It is a "monster" increase that is unheard of, said Gregg Marland, a professor of geology at Appalachian State University, who has helped calculate department of energy figures in the past.
Extra pollution in China and the US account for more than half the increase in emissions last year, Marland said.
I plan to be part of the circle of Americans around the White House at 2pm this Sunday to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. Tar sands exploitation will be "Game Over" for the climate if we don't stop it, according to NASA climate expert Dr. Jim Hansen.
Please join us.
Update
ORNL's web site makes clear that this report covers emissions from anthropogenic sources. Potential feedback effects such as CO2 released by dead trees caused by drought in the Amazon in 2010 were not included in the record emissions numbers.
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* Preliminary 2009 and 2010 global and national estimates of carbon emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and cement manufacture indicate that 2010 was by far a record year for CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and cement manufacture. Globally 9,139 Teragrams of oxidized carbon (Tg-C) were emitted from these sources. Converted to carbon dioxide, this amounts to over 33.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. The increase alone is about 512 Tg-C, or 5.9%, over the 2009 global estimate. The previous record year was 2008, with 8,749 Tg-C emitted; the 2010 estimate is about 104.5% of that, or 391 Tg-C more.
Much of the 5.9% global increase from 2009 to 2010 is due to increased emissions from the People's Republic of China, where emissions rose 10% to 2.247 Tg-C. Emissions from the United States were 1,498 Tg-C, up by almost 60 Tg-C, or 4%, of the 2009 estimates of 1,438 Tg-C. The record year for the United States was 2007, with estimated emissions of 1,589 Tg-C. The 2010 total is about 94% of that value, reflecting economic conditions.