Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2021 and trend since 2000, including inventory-based Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) CO2 in GtCO2e (top) and Per capita GHG emissions in 2021 and trend since 2000, including inventory-based LULUCF CO2 in tCO2e/capita (bottom). Graphic: UNEP

Petrostates planning huge expansion of fossil fuels, says UN report – “These plans throw humanity’s future into question. Governments must stop saying one thing and doing another.”

By Damian Carrington 8 November 2023 (The Guardian) – The world’s fossil fuel producers are planning expansions that would blow the planet’s carbon budget twice over, a UN report has found. Experts called the plans “insanity” which “throw humanity’s future into question”. The energy plans of the petrostates contradicted their climate policies and pledges, the report said. […]

A person points at a stack of trays holding treated limestone, used to absorb CO2 from the air, at Heirloom’s new plant, in Tracy, California, in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on 9 November 2023. Photo: Heirloom Carbon / REUTERS

Why carbon capture is no easy solution to climate change – “Not all technologies are going to be possible in all locations”

By Leah Douglas 27 November 2023 (Reuters) – Technologies that capture carbon dioxide emissions to keep them from the atmosphere are central to the climate strategies of many world governments as they seek to follow through on international commitments to decarbonize by mid-century. But they are also expensive, unproven at scale, and can be hard […]

The Bald Mountain Wildfire burns in the Grande Prairie Forest Area in Alberta on 12 May 2023. Government of Alberta Fire Service / Canadian Press / AP

Forests are no longer our climate friends – “As extreme as this year’s wildfire emissions have been, they are just the latest escalation in a multi-decade flood of CO₂ pouring out of Canada’s ‘managed’ forests and forestry”

By David Wallace-Wells 6 September 2023 (The New York Times) – Canadian wildfires have this year burned a land area larger than 104 of the world’s 195 countries. The carbon dioxide released by them so far is estimated to be nearly 1.5 billion tons — more than twice as much as Canada releases through transportation, […]

CAMS Daily total cumulative carbon emissions from Canada wildfires in 2023, compared with emissions since 2003. Data for 2023 are current through 28 August 2023. Growth in fire emissions have surpassed 2014 to set a new record for the last two decades. Graphic: Mark Parrington / Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service

Wildfires in Canada’s Northwest Territories have released 97 megatons of carbon, 277 times what its people emit – Emissions from wildfires across Canada in 2023 vastly exceed the 2014 record

By Liny Lamberink 28 August 2023 (CBC News) – Wildfires in the N.W.T have emitted 97 megatonnes of carbon into the air so far this year — 277 times more than what was caused by humans in the territory back in 2021. Mark Parrington, a senior scientist working at the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), […]

Estimated energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2021 and 2050 by sector, in billions of metric tons. Data: IPCC AR6 Scenarios Database hosted by IIASA release 1.0 average / IPCC C3: “Likely below 2°C” scenarios; ExxonMobil analysis. Emissions do not contain industry process emissions or land use and natural sinks Graphic: ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil predicts climate efforts will fail – “Fossil fuels remain the most effective way to produce the massive amounts of energy needed to create and support the manufacturing, commercial transportation, and industrial sectors that drive modern economies”

By Maggie Harrison 1 September 2023 (Futurism) – According to Exxon Mobil, oil giant and one of the more prominent architects of our planet’s fossil fuel-laden doom, humanity is likely to fail its climate goals of halting a global temperature rise of two degrees Celsius by 2050. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Exxon published its grim prediction in […]

Changes of sea surface temperature (SST) gradient anomalies and the spatial distribution of SST to a changing CO2 pathway. (A) Time evolution of latitudinal gradient of sea surface temperature anomaly (unit: °C) in the SH (pink) from its PD value. (B) Same as (A) but for the NH (black), the North Pacific (NP; 120°E to 90°W, green dotted line), and the North Atlantic (NA; 70°W to 0°E, orange dashed line) sectors with the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) strength anomaly from its PD value (skyblue; unit: Sv). The SST gradient is determined by the SST differences from the tropics (0° to 15°) to the midlatitudes (45° to 60°) in each hemisphere. The AMOC strength is defined by averaging annual-mean Atlantic meridional ocean stream function within the latitudinal band from 35°N to 45°N at a depth of 1000 m. Note that the weakening of AMOC is upwards in the right axis in (B). All values are based on the ensemble mean of 28 members (subjected to an 11-year running mean), with their 1 SD ranges across the ensemble members marked with shading. (C to E) SST changes (unit: °C) for peak (2121–2160) minus early RU (2001–2040) periods, late RD (2241–2280) minus peak periods, and late RD minus early RU periods, respectively. Climatological SST in the PD climate (unit: °C) is contoured in (C) to (E). The hatched regions in (C) to (E) indicate where temperature changes are statistically insignificant at the 95% confidence level. The SH, NP, and NA sectors for the SST gradient in (A) and (B) are denoted by colored boxes in (C) to (E). Graphic: Kim, et al., 2023 / Science Advances

Removing carbon from Earth’s atmosphere may not “fix” climate change – Changes to atmospheric circulation caused by global warming may persist for centuries after CO2 concentrations decrease – “We cannot control nature. We cannot reverse the consequences that easily. We cannot fix nature.”

By Tereza Pultarova 28 July 2023 (Space.com) – Removing carbon from Earth’s atmosphere may not reverse devastating changes to weather patterns in vulnerable areas, a new study suggests. In the study, Korean researchers simulated how removing large quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the air might affect the progress of local climate changes […]

Primary energy global consumption (left) and share of global primary energy by source (right), 2000-2022. Primary energy demand growth slowed in 2022, increasing by 1.1 percent, compared to 5.5 percent in 2021, and taking it to around 3 percent above the 2019 pre-COVID level. Consumption increased in all regions apart from Europe (-3.8 percent) and CIS (-5.8 percent). Renewables’ (excluding hydro) share of primary energy consumption reached 7.5 percent, an increase of nearly 1 percent over the previous year. Fossil fuel consumption as a percentage of primary energy remained steady at 82 percent. Graphic: Energy Institute

World energy system struggled in face of geopolitical and environmental crises in 2022 – Coal production reached record high – CO2 emissions reached record level – “We are still heading in the opposite direction to that required by the Paris Agreement”

26 June 2023 (EI) – The Energy Institute (EI) and partners KPMG and Kearney today released the 72nd annual edition of the Statistical Review of World Energy, presenting for the first time full global energy data for 2022. Five key themes emerge from the data EI President Juliet Davenport OBE HonFEI said: “The EI Statistical Review […]

Graph showing energy generation mix in China in the first four months of both 2019 and 2023. Data: National Bureau of Statistics of China. Graphic: David Stern and Khalid Ahmed

China is pumping out carbon emissions in 2023 as if COVID never happened – “China’s new path seems to be less sustainable than before”

By David Stern and Khalid Ahmed 9 July 2023 (The Conversation) – Carbon emissions from China are growing faster now than before COVID-19 struck, data show, dashing hopes the pandemic may have put the world’s most polluting nation on a new emissions trajectory. We compared emissions in China over the first four months of 2019 […]

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration at Mauna Loa observatory, 1958-2023. In 2023, heat-trapping carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere increased to a record high in its annual Spring peak, jumping at one of the fastest rates on record. Graphic: UC San Diego / Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Atmospheric carbon dioxide hits new peak in 2023, growing at near-record rate – “Not only is CO2 continuing to increase despite efforts to reduce emissions, but it’s increasing faster than it was 10 or 20 years ago”

By Seth Borenstein 5 June 2023 (AP News) – The cause of global warming is showing no signs of slowing as heat-trapping carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere increased to record highs in its annual Spring peak, jumping at one of the fastest rates on record, officials announced Monday. Carbon dioxide levels in the air are now the […]

CO2 equivalent mixing ratio of atmospheric greenhouse gases, 1979-2022. The NOAA Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI) tracks increases in the warming influence of heat-trapping gases generated by human activity, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and 15 other gases. This illustration depicts the increase in radiative forcing, relative to 1750, of virtually all long-lived greenhouse gases. The AGGI, which is indexed to 1 for the year 1990, is shown on the right axis. Graphic: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory

NOAA index tracks how greenhouse gas pollution amplified global warming in 2022 – Methane and nitrous oxide rise near record levels – “Alternative energy sources to replace fossil fuels exist, but cutting emissions associated with producing food is perhaps an even more difficult task”

23 May 2023 (NOAA) – Greenhouse gas pollution from human activity trapped 49 percent more heat in the atmosphere during 2022 than those same gases did in 1990, according to an annual NOAA report. NOAA’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, known as the AGGI, tracks increases in the warming influence of heat-trapping gases generated by human activity, […]

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