Global emissions for 2010 return to record levels in wake of Global Financial Crisis

Following the reductions of Carbon dioxide emissions in 2008-2009 due to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), global carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 increased by a record 5.9 per cent, according to scientists working with the Global Carbon Project (GCP).

In its annual analysis published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, GCP says that the impact of the GFC on emissions has been short-lived owing to significant growth in emissions by emerging economies and a return to emissions growth in developed economies.

The largest contributions to global emissions growth in 2010 were from China, USA, India, the Russian Federation, and the European Union The global share of emissions by emerging economies was also seen to consistently rise.

“The GFC was an opportunity to move the global economy away from a high emissions trajectory, which has not been realized,” said Dr. Shobhakar DHAKAL, Executive-Director of Global Carbon Project’s Tsukuba International Office at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan.

The atmospheric concentration of CO2 in 2010 rose to 389 parts per million, the highest recorded in at least the past 800,000 years.

The GCP produces an annual report card with the latest figures on all major carbon exchanges resulting from human activities.

Carbon Budget 2010: http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/
Shobhakar DHAKAL: shobhakar.dhakal@nies.go.jp

“Rapid growth in CO2 emissions after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis” by GP Peters, G Marland, C Le Quéré, T Boden, JG Canadell and MR Raupach is published online by Nature Climate Change, 5 December 2011.

• Carbon Budget 2010