According to a new report as part of the Global Carbon Project (GCP), global emissions of carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil fuels reached 36 billion tonnes last year. This level of emissions has been labelled as “unprecedented in human history” by the Executive-Director of the GCP, Dr Pep Canadell.
Dr Canadell, who is also the co-author of the new report, also stated that fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions will continue to rise at 2.5 percent this year, bringing the total number of emissions from all sources to over 40 billion tonnes. 2.5 percent has been the average growth of emissions each year in the past ten years.This level of growth sits between the lower growth rate in the 1990s, which was one percent and the higher growth rate in the 2000s, which was 3.3 percent. This declining level of growth has been attributed to lower GDP growth.
According to Dr Canadell, if these levels continue to increase, it would lead “to global average temperatures between 3.2C and 5.4C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.”
The report states that Australia’s emissions from fossil fuels declined last year due to a 5 percent decline of emissions in the electricity sector over the previous year. However fossil fuel emissions per individual remain at over 14 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The report, other facts and figures and the GCP website can be found here.