Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels rose by 1.1 percent last year, says the Global Carbon Project organization.
Global warming may exceed the crucial 1.5 degree threshold in just seven years, according to the annual report published by the Global Carbon Project on Tuesday.
According to the organization, carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels rose by 1.1 percent last year. There was a sharp increase in China and India, which are now the world’s largest and third largest emitters.
According to the report, there is a 50 percent probability that the 1.5 degree limit for global warming mentioned in the Paris Agreement will be exceeded by 2030.
The countries of the world are gathered at the UN climate conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The authors of a new report call on countries participating in the summit to take action now against pollution caused by coal, oil and gas.
– The time between now and 1.5 degrees is shrinking enormously, so to preserve the possibility of staying below 1.5 degrees or very close to 1.5 degrees, we must act now, said the report’s lead author Pierre Friedlingstein from the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter.
“Things are going in the wrong direction”
In the 2015 Paris Agreement, the countries committed to limiting the temperature rise to well below two degrees compared to pre-industrial times, and preferably to 1.5 degrees. Since then, there has been evidence that warming exceeding 1.5 degrees can lead to dangerous and irreversible tipping points.
According to the international climate panel IPCC, carbon dioxide emissions must be halved in this decade in order to stay within this limit.
However, according to the Global Carbon Project, the task is becoming more and more challenging as emissions continue to rise.
– Things are going in the wrong direction, senior researcher at Climate Research Center Cicero Glen Peters evaluate.
The majority of emissions are from fossil fuels
The report found that fossil fuels accounted for 36.8 billion tons of the total 40.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide estimated to be released this year.
Several major polluters have reduced their carbon dioxide emissions this year. According to the report, emissions in the United States, for example, are predicted to have fallen by three percent this year, and by 7.4 percent in the EU as a whole.
However, China’s share of the world’s emissions is almost a third, and the country’s carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are expected to grow by four percent this year, the report estimates.
At the same time, India’s CO2 emissions growth of more than eight percent has led to the country overtaking the EU and becoming the third largest emitter of emissions from fossil fuels.
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