carbon dioxide – Page 3 – Desdemona Despair

Near-surface temperature differences relative to the 1981–2010 average for 2022 to September. The map shows the median anomaly calculated from six data sets: HadCRUT5, ERA5, JRA-55, GISTEMP, NOAAGlobalTemp, and Berkeley Earth. Graphic: WMO

November 7, 2022

State of the Global Climate 2022: Sea level rise accelerates, European glacier melt shatters records, extreme weather causes devastation – “What climate scientists have warned about for decades is upon us”

By Seth Borenstein 6 November 2022 SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) – Earth’s warming weather and rising seas are getting worse and doing so faster than before, the World Meteorological Organization warned Sunday in a somber note as world leaders started gathering for international climate negotiations. [Eight warmest years on record witness upsurge in climate change impacts –Des] […]

Projections of GHG emissions under different scenarios to 2050 and indications of emissions gap and global warming implications over this century (medians only). Looking beyond 2030, this figure projects global GHG emissions out to 2050 under different scenarios and indicates the associated global warming implications over this century. The figure illustrates the substantial increase in the emissions gap for 2050 if climate efforts implied by current policies and NDC scenarios are continued without further strengthening. Implementation of net-zero targets by around mid-century would significantly reduce these gaps, but even then, gaps with the 1.5°C scenarios would remain. Graphic: UNEP

November 1, 2022

UN: Inadequate progress on climate action makes rapid transformation of societies only option – “It is a tall, and some would say impossible, order to reform the global economy and almost halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but we must try”

NAIROBI, 27 October 2022 – As intensifying climate impacts across the globe hammer home the message that greenhouse gas emissions must fall rapidly, a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report finds that the international community is still falling far short of the Paris goals, with no credible pathway to 1.5°C in place. However, the Emissions Gap Report […]

New Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari (center), is pictured during a group photo in front of the Parliament in Stockholm, on 18 October 2022. Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP

October 24, 2022

Sweden’s climate policy is in turmoil – Far-right government puts Environment Ministry under Ministry of Energy and Industry – “Historic decision that will have devastating consequences for climate issues”

By Anne-Françoise Hivert 22 October 2022 MALMÖ, Sweden (Le Monde) – It is quite a symbol: For the first time since 1987, Sweden has no proper Environment Ministry. Romina Pourmokhtari, 26, the youngest member of the government presented by the conservative Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday, October 18, has been appointed minister for climate and the […]

Hubei’s Guanyin Pavilion during the July 2017 flood and the August 2022 drought. Photo: Getty Images

October 21, 2022

Climate change has come for the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter – “There is nothing in world climatic history which is even minimally comparable to what is happening in China”

By Muizz Akhtar 29 September 2022 (Vox) – China just finished one of its most disastrous summers on record, with record-breaking heat, drought, and wildfires leading to water shortages even into the fall. More than 900 million people — or about 64 percent of China’s population — faced brutal heat waves alone, highlighting how much further the nation has to […]

Changes in global average sea level (background map) and local sea level (dots) between 1993 and 2021. In the global ocean, sea level has risen nearly everywhere (blue). Coastal areas where sea level has fallen (brown) are places where the land is rising as it rebounds from being compressed by ice sheets and glaciers during the last ice age. NOAA Climate.gov map, based on data from University of Hawaii Sea Level Center. Graphic: NOAA

September 4, 2022

American Meteorological Society report: Record-high greenhouse gases and sea levels in 2021 – Ocean heat content highest on record

31 August 2022 (NOAA) – Greenhouse gas concentrations, global sea levels and ocean heat content reached record highs in 2021, according to the 32nd annual State of the Climate report. The international annual review of the world’s climate, led by scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and published by the Bulletin of the […]

Change in primary energy by fuel, 2007-2021. Primary energy in 2021 grew by its largest amount in history, with emerging economies accounting for most of the increase. Primary energy grew by 31 exajoules (EJ) in 2021, the largest increase in history and more than reversing the sharp decline seen in 2020. Primary energy in 2021 was 8 EJ above 2019 levels. The increase in primary energy in 2021 was driven by emerging economies, which increased by 13 EJ, with China expanding by 10 EJ. Taking 2020 and 2021 together, primary energy consumption in emerging economies increased by 15 EJ, largely reflecting growth in China (13 EJ). In contrast, energy demand in developed economies in 2021 was 7 EJ below 2019 levels. The increase in primary energy between 2019 and 2021 was entirely driven by renewable energy sources. The level of fossil fuel energy consumption was unchanged between 2019 and 2021, with lower oil demand (-8 EJ) offset by higher natural gas (5 EJ) and coal (3 EJ) consumption. Graphic: BP

June 28, 2022

BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022: Carbon emissions rebound after pandemic dip – Coal prices surge – “The world remains on an unsustainable path”

By Spencer Dale 28 June 2022 (BP) – The challenges and uncertainties facing the global energy system are at their greatest for almost 50 years, at the time of the last great energy shocks of the 1970s. Most immediate is the impact of the terrible events taking place in Ukraine, with its tragic toll on […]

Total annual global cement emissions, 1990-2021. Making cement emits carbon dioxide two ways, one from the chemical process and the other from heating the chemicals. Global carbon dioxide emissions from cement making have tripled in the last 30 years and doubled in the last 20 years. Data: Robbie Andrew / CICERO Center for International Climate Research. Graphic: Camille Fassett / AP

June 26, 2022

Carbon dioxide emissions from cement production double in 20 years – “Each person on the planet is consuming on average more than a kilogram of cement per day”

By Seth Borenstein 22 June 2022 (AP) – Heat trapping carbon dioxide emissions from making cement, a less talked about but major source of carbon pollution, have doubled in the last 20 years, new global data shows. In 2021, worldwide emissions from making cement for buildings, roads and other infrastructure hit nearly 2.9 billion tons […]

Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), 1700-2021. For 2021, the AGGI was a record high 1.49, representing an increase in total direct radiative forcing of 49 percent since 1990. The atmospheric abundance of CO2 has increased by an average of 1.88 ppm per year over the past 42 years (1979-2021). This increase in CO2 is accelerating — while it averaged about 1.6 ppm per year in the 1980s and 1.5 ppm per year in the 1990s, the growth rate increased to 2.4 ppm per year during the last decade (2011-2021). The annual CO2 increase from 1 January 2021 to 1 January 2022 was 2.60 ± 0.08 ppm. Graphic: Montzka, 2022 / NOAA

May 25, 2022

Greenhouse gas pollution trapped record 49 percent more heat in 2021 than in 1990 – Methane increase in 2021 largest since 1982 – “The primary gases responsible for climate change continue rising rapidly”

23 May 2022 (NOAA) – Greenhouse gas pollution caused by human activities trapped 49 percent more heat in the atmosphere in 2021 than they did in 1990, according to NOAA scientists. NOAA’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, known as the AGGI, tracks increases in the warming influence of human emissions of heat-trapping gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, […]

Global map showing the highest marine heatwave (MHW) category experienced at each pixel in 2021 (reference period 1982–2011). Light grey indicates that no MHW occurred in a pixel over the entire year. (b) Stacked bar plot showing the percentage of the surface of the ocean experiencing an MHW on any given day of the year. (c) Stacked bar plot showing the cumulative percentage of the surface of the ocean that experienced an MHW over the year. Note: These values are based on when in the year a pixel first experienced its highest MHW category, so no pixel is counted twice. Horizontal lines in this figure show the final percentages for each category of MHW. (d) Stacked bar plot showing the cumulative number of MHW days averaged over the surface of the ocean. Note: This average is calculated by dividing the cumulative sum of MHW days per pixel weighted by the surface area of those pixels. Data: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (NOAA OISST). Graphic: Robert Schlegel

May 22, 2022

WMO: Four key climate change indicators broke records in 2021 – Past seven years have been the warmest seven years on record – “A dismal litany of humanity’s failure to tackle climate disruption”

GENEVA, 18 May 2022 (WMO) – Four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021. This is yet another clear sign that human activities are causing planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere, with harmful and […]

Global daily atmospheric CO2, 2012-2022. The figure shows daily averaged CO2 from four GML Atmospheric Baseline observatories; Barrow, Alaska (in blue), Mauna Loa, Hawaii (in red), American Samoa (in green), and South Pole, Antarctica (in yellow). The thick black lines represent the average of the smoothed seasonal curves and the smoothed, de-seasonalized curves for each of the records. These lines are a very good estimate of the global average levels of CO2. Data for 2022 are through 7 May 2022. Graphic: NOAA

May 8, 2022

Earth’s atmospheric CO2 hits highest recorded level in human history – Unprecedented level comes as greenhouse gas emissions continue around the world

By Ethan Freedman 6 May 2022 NEW YORK (The Independent) – Monthly average carbon dioxide (CO2) levels have reached above 420 parts per million (ppm) for the first time on record. The new data, from Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory, were released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Atmospheric CO2, driven higher in large part […]