Last year, the world pumped out more carbon pollution than ever before

Motherboard reports: Precisely at the moment that the climate depends on carbon pollution declining, worldwide emissions continue to boom. Case in point: 2013 saw yet another record carbon high, with 35.3 billion tons of CO2 entering the atmosphere.

That’s the finding of ​the European Union’s​ Joint Research Center, which released its annual report on global emissions today. The document tallies the emissions of fossil fuel power production—coal, oil, and gas—and emissions from industry, especially cement and metal manufacturing.

The record high was reached primarily thanks to developing, coal-hungry giants: “Sharp risers include Brazil (+ 6.2 percent), India (+ 4.4 percent), China (+ 4.2 percent) and Indonesia (+2.3 percent),” the report notes.

The US — the world’s largest historic greenhouse gas emitter — grew again after a brief pause, thanks to a return to coal. [Continue reading…]

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2 thoughts on “Last year, the world pumped out more carbon pollution than ever before”

  1. AK

    (1) The extra carbon could be from Japan’s nuclear meltdowns when they exploded. Here’s why:

    Carbon-14 increased in the atmosphere after the atomic testing the U.S. did back in the 50’s.

    It is now believed that when the Unit 3 nuclear-energy-plant in Japan exploded in March of 2011, it was the same as a nuclear bomb explosion; thereby emitting massive amounts of Carbon-14.

    See this headline on Enenews:

    Mushroom-shaped “pink cloud” blew into air at Fukushima after Unit 3 explosion — Film: Nuclear bomb explosions caused “pink clouds of radiation”; “Clouds were pink from fallout… They told everyone there’s nothing to worry about” (VIDEO & PHOTOS)

    http://enenews.com/new-book-pink-cloud-shape-mushroom-after-explosion-fukushima-unit-3-film-pink-clouds-radiation-after-nuclear-bombs-detonated-clouds-pink-pink-covering-sky-told-everyone-worry-about-video

    (2) And here’s the IMPORTANT dirty little secret the nuclear industry doesn’t want you to know—>

    CARBON 14 CONVERTS TO C02 in the atmosphere. So nuclear energy is NOT a low carbon source and emits CO2.

    See here:

    “Once formed, the carbon-14 is quickly oxidized to produce carbon dioxide, CO2”
    http://www.preparatorychemistry.com/bishop_book_atoms_16.pdf

    (3) Carbon-14 is also emitted from nuclear power plants even during their normal operations and it can cause detrimental health effects:

    See here:

    “…a significant fraction of the carbon-14 taken in by either ingestion or inhalation is absorbed into the bloodstream, where it is transferred to all organs of the body. The health hazard of carbon-14 is associated with cell damage caused by the ionizing radiation that results from radioactive decay, with the potential for subsequent cancer induction.”
    http://www.remm.nlm.gov/ANL_ContaminantFactSheets_All_070418.pdf

    (4) This is also why nuclear energy is NOT the answer to “climate change” and can be a significant health hazard to humans.

  2. Paul Woodward

    The source of the extra carbon is made perfectly clear in the report for those who bother reading it rather get distracted by unrelated issues:

    In 2013, the Chinese per capita CO2 level of 7.4 tonnes CO2/cap just exceeded the mean EU28 level of 7.3 tonnes CO2/cap, which is 50% above the global average. It is still less than half than those of the United States of 16.6 tonnes CO2/cap, which has one of the highest per capita emissions.

    Then toss in these mind boggling number: In the last 3 years, China used 6.6 gigatons of cement. The U.S. used 4.5 gigatons in the last 100 years! 900 kg of CO2 are emitted for the fabrication of every ton of cement. A gigaton is a billion tons.

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