Global CO2 emissions on the rise again in 2010

WASHINGTON - Global carbon dioxide emissions, the main contributor to global warming, show no sign of abating and may reach record levels in 2010, according to a study.

The study, led by the universities of Exeter and East Anglia, both in Britain, and other global institutions, is part of the annual carbon budget update by the Global Carbon Project.

The study authors found that despite the major financial crisis hitting the world last year, global CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuel in 2009 were only 1.3 percent below the record 2008 figures. This is less than half the drop predicted a year ago.

The global financial crisis severely affected western economies, leading to large reductions in CO2 emissions. For example, emissions in Britain were 8.6 percent lower lower in 2009 than in 2008, according to an Exeter and East Anglia statement.

Similar figures apply to the US, Japan, France, Germany, and most other industrialised nations, reports the journal Nature Geoscience.

However, emerging economies had a strong economic performance despite the financial crisis, and recorded substantial increase in CO2 emissions (China more than 8 percent, India more than 6.2 percent).

Pierre Friedlingstein, who led the research, said: “The 2009 drop in CO2 emissions is less than half that was anticipated a year ago.

The study projects that if economic growth proceeds as expected, global fossil fuel emissions will increase by more than three percent in 2010, approaching the high emissions growth rates observed through 2000 to 2008.