World carbon emissions reach record high in 2007

The latest measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may not be surprising, but neither are they uplifting.

Carbon emissions from industrialized nations rose through the first six years of the 21st century, reversing a slackening in the 1990s caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to new figures from the United Nations. There was a slight plateau in 2006 that experts cautioned is unlikely to continue as a trend.

As of 2006, emissions from the industrialized nations stood 5% below the 1990 level, but emissions had increased 2.3% since 2000. The concentration of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2007, as global greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase. In the last 25 years, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have increased 37%, fueling the global warming that is melting the Arctic, dulling northern winters, allowing tropical diseases to spread poleward, threatening countless species and ecosystems and spawning violent and dangerous weather events, like droughts, floods and strong storms.

“The biggest recent increase in emissions of industrialized countries has come from economies in transition, which have seen a rise of 7.4 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions within the 2000 to 2006 time frame,” Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said.

“The figures clearly underscore the urgency for the UN negotiating process to make good progress in Poznan and move forward quickly in designing a new agreement to respond to the challenge of climate change,” he added, referring to the talks in the Polish city from 1 to 12 December that constitute the half-way mark of a two-year negotiating process, set to culminate in an ambitious international climate change deal in Copenhagen, Denmark, next year.

Sources: UN News Centre and The Daily Green.