Climate goals at risk as CO2 emissions rise again, according to scientists at COP27
Scientists warn that burning fossil fuels will cause global carbon dioxide emissions to rise around 1% this year, making climate change more likely to be disastrous.
As a result of the Global Carbon Budget report released at COP27, the gap between governments, companies and investors’ pledges to reduce climate change emissions and their actions today – which keeps them on the rise – is revealed.
More than 100 scientists report that the world will emit 41 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2022, with 37 billion tonnes coming from fossil fuel combustion and 4 billion tonnes from deforestation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, economies reopened after being locked down, using more oil for transport, particularly aviation.
Global gas prices skyrocketed after Russia restricted natural gas supplies to Europe after its February invasion of Ukraine, resulting in coal burning emitted emissions.
The COVID-19 lockdown has contributed to a 0.9% drop in China’s CO2 output. In Europe, emissions fell slightly as well.
Two of the world’s top emitters, the United States and India, have experienced emissions growth of 1.5% and 6%, respectively.
In its latest report, the United Nations panel on climate science said global greenhouse gas emissions would need to decrease by 43% by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5C.
Despite a record drop in global CO2 emissions in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CO2 emissions are now back slightly above pre-COVID-19 levels.
Because of uncertainties surrounding countries’ longer-term response to the pandemic and Russian gas shortage, for example, whether they will continue burning coal or instead invest heavily in clean energy, predicting emissions is difficult.
Climate scientist Pierre Friedlingstein of the University of Exeter told the BBC the issue is complicated. “We can’t say for sure yet that emissions from China are declining in the long run… the return to the use of coal in Europe, let’s hope it’s temporary.”
Source- Reuters
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