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ShareWASHINGTON: A new research has determined that despite the economic effects of the global financial crisis (GFC), carbon dioxide emissions from human activities rose 2% in 2008 to an all-time high of 1.3 tonnes of carbon per capita per year.
The research, by scientists from the internationally respected climate research group, the Global Carbon Project (GCP), said that rising emissions from fossil fuels last year were caused mainly by increased use of coal, but there were minor decreases in emissions from oil and deforestation.
"The current growth in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is closely linked to growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," said one of the paper's lead authors, CSIRO's Dr Mike Raupach.
"CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion are estimated to have increased 41% above 1990 levels with emissions continuing to track close to the worst-case scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)," he said.
"There will be a small downturn in emissions because of the GFC, but anthropogenic emissions growth will resume when the economy recovers unless the global effort to reduce emissions from human activity is accelerated," he added.
The GCP estimates that the growth in emissions from developing countries increased in part due to the production of manufactured goods consumed in developed countries.
In China alone, 50% of the growth in emissions from 2002 to 2005 was attributed to the country's export industries.
According to the GCP's findings, atmospheric CO2 growth was about four billion metric tonnes of carbon in 2008 and global atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached 385 parts per million - 38% above pre-industrial levels.
Co-author and GCP Executive Director, CSIRO's Dr Pep Canadell, said that the findings also indicate that natural carbon sinks, which play an important role in buffering the impact of rising emissions from human activity, have not been able to keep pace with rising CO2 levels.
"On average, only 45% of each year's emissions remain in the atmosphere," Dr Canadell said. "The remaining 55% is absorbed by land and ocean sinks," he added.
"However, CO2 sinks have not kept pace with rapidly increasing emissions, as the fraction of emissions remaining in the atmosphere has increased over the past 50 years. This is of concern as it indicates the vulnerability of the sinks to increasing emissions and climate change, making natural sinks less efficient 'cleaners' of human carbon pollution," he said.
