News

CO2 emissions are increasing

A new report from Worldwatch Institute says we are not making progress in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Citing the annual Global Carbon Project numbers, the report says emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached 9.7 gigatons of carbon (GtC) in 2012. That value is 58 percent higher than emissions in 1990, the year of the Kyoto Protocol.

Katie Auth is a regional research lead for Worldwatch Institute, she says coal accounts for 43% of total carbon emissions and created more than half of the increase in 2012. Part of that increase came from countries like Japan and Germany which have increased coal use as they phase-out nuclear power plants. But overall, the global distribution of emissions has changed over the years; at the time of the Kyoto Protocol in 1990, industrial countries accounted for 62 percent of emissions by 2012 that number dropped to 37 percent. However, the top emitters of CO2 in 2012 were China, the United States, India and the Russian Federation. China’s emissions increased 5.9 percent in 2012 while the U.S. reduced CO2 emissions 0.05 percent.

Auth says extreme weather events such as extended droughts and storms, “have prompted a national conversation about the likely impacts of climate change and how it will impact our families and communities here in the US, and that that growing discussion and awareness is a good thing.” As for those who still question the legitimacy of climate change: Auth says unfortunately it has become a political issue, “It makes a political statement about who you are and what you believe and that really complicates the issue.” But in the end, “I think the science is quite clear.”

Negotiators are hoping to put a new global agreement together when they meet in Paris in 2015, and she hopes all sides will recognize the growing threat and be willing to make some much-needed concessions.

AUDIO: Auth talks about the report 11:44 mp3

Read more from Wordwatch Institute here: