Greenhouse emissions are ‘at an all-time high’, say scientists

He global warming caused by man continues to increase at a “unprecedented pace” because greenhouse gas emissions are “at their highest point” in history, warned a team of fifty scientists.

The article with the results obtained has been published in the Earth System Science Data magazine, where scientists, among them the Minister of the Environment of Chile, Maisa Rojas, or the director of the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (north), José Manuel Gutiérrez , reveal how key climate indicators have changed since the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment report in 2021.

The project of “Global Climate Change Indicators” is coordinated by Professor Piers Forster, Director of the Priestley Center for Climate Futures in Leeds, who sees this decade “criticism for climate change”.

Forster said that warming rates are “at a long-term high” because the levels of greenhouse gas emissions are “the highest in history”with human activity equivalent to 54 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere on average each year.

However, according to the study, reported by the University of Cantabria in a statement, there is evidence that the rate of increase in greenhouse gas emissions has decreased.

Human-induced warming, largely caused by the burning of fossil fuels, has averaged 1.14 degrees over the past decade (2013-2022), above pre-industrial levels.

This is a higher figure than the 1.07 degrees registered between 2010 and 2019, which is why it is growing at a rate of more than 0.2 ºC per decade.

Coal burning was positively reduced, but had a short-term negative cost, because it has contributed to global warming by reducing particulate pollution in the air, which has a cooling effect.

carbon budget

It also highlights the decrease in the remaining carbon budget, which is an estimate of the amount of carbon that can be released into the atmosphere to have a chance of keeping global temperature rise to within 1.5 degrees.

In 2020, the IPCC estimated the remaining carbon budget to be about 500 gigatons of carbon dioxide.

As of early 2023, the number was about half due to the combination of continued emissions since 2020 and updated estimates of human-caused warming.

“If we don’t want the 1.5 degree target to recede in the rear-view mirror, the world must work much harder and urgently to reduce emissions”Forster added.

The Minister of the Environment of Chile, Maisa Rojas, who signs this study, sees An annual update of climate change indicators is “fundamental” and advocates placing it “at the top of the agendas.”

Source: EFE