Thaindian News

Sydney, Sep 29 (IANS) The latest figures on the global carbon budget released in Washington and Paris on Monday indicated a four-fold increase in growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions since 2000. “This is a concerning trend in light of global efforts to curb emissions,” said Global Carbon Project (GCP) executive-director, Pep Canadell, a carbon specialist based at Commonwealth Scientific and industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Canberra.

Releasing the 2007 data, Canadell said emissions from the combustion of fossil fuel and land use change almost reached the mark of 10 billion tonnes of carbon in 2007.

Using research findings published last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature and Science, Canadell said atmospheric carbon dioxide growth has been outstripping the growth of natural carbon dioxide sinks such as forests and oceans.

The new results were released simultaneously in Washington by Canadell and in Paris by Michael Raupach, GCP co-chair and a CSIRO scientist.

Raupach said Australia’s position remains unique as a developed country with rapidly growing emissions, according to CSIRO release.

GCP is a joint international project sponsored by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Research (IHDP), and the World Climate Research Program.

The research team included Corinne Le Quéré (University of East Anglia/British Antarctic Survey, UK), Philippe Ciais (Commissariat a L’Energie Atomique, France), Thomas Conway (NOAA, USA), and Chris Field (Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA), among others.