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Carbon dioxide emissions mount at
startling rate
1 November, 2007
Carbon dioxide has been released into
the Earth’s atmosphere at a
drastically accelerating rate since
2000. Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse
gas considered most responsible for
global warming.
Greenhouse gases such as carbon
dioxide warm the planet by trapping
heat in the atmosphere.
It was the researchers at the Carnegie
Institution’s Department of Global
Ecology in California, the United
States, who have found that carbon
dioxide emissions are rising at a much
faster rate than before.
The findings of the study have been
published in the latest issue of
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, the United States.
According to Christopher Field,
director of the Carnegie Institution’s
Department of Global Ecology in
California and co-author of the study,
in the 1990s, carbon dioxide emissions
rose by about 1.3% a year. Since 2000,
the growth rate has been at the rate
of 3.3% a year.
The researchers calculate that global
carbon-dioxide emissions were 35%
higher in 2006 than in 1990.
In the opinion of Josep Canadell, of
Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research Organization,
and lead author of the study, what is
especially troubling is that most
climate scenarios used by scientists
and policymakers to predict
temperature increases are based on the
1.3% rise.
Josep Canadell added, “While the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change predicts that we will have
temperature increases of 3.2 degrees
to 7.1 degrees by the end of the
century, we are well on the way to the
higher temperature increase if the
emissions keep going up at this rate.”
Higher global temperatures have been
predicted to cause rising sea levels,
more frequent heat waves and
wildfires, and huge losses of ice in
the Arctic
and Antarctic.
Carbon released from burning fossil
fuels and making cement rose from 7
billion metric tonnes a year in 2000
to 8.4 billion metric tonnes in 2006,
says the study (A metric tonne is
2,205 pounds.)
The growing world economy, says
Christopher Field, is fueling the
emissions. He elaborates, “Our ability
to become more carbon-efficient is
declining, especially since 2000. We
are no longer seeing progress in this
area, which is probably a reflection
of a large amount of coal coming into
the power system.”
Another factor is the reduced amount
of carbon dioxide naturally absorbed
by the Earth’s land, plants and
oceans, known as “carbon sinks.”
Carbon sinks were once keeping up with
the increased emissions, but now they
are not.
The research was supported by
Australian, European and other
international agencies.
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