CO2 Emissions Have Reached the Highest Level Ever Recorded

Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have reached the highest level ever recorded, prompting fears about an increase in temperature above the “dangerous” limit of two degrees Celsius, according to an estimate by the International Energy Agency (IEA), quoted by the daily British newspaper “The Guardian”.

The IEA estimates that the return to global economic growth in 2010 coincided with an increase of 1.6 gigatons of CO2 emissions, the highest level recorded so far. “It’s the worst news in terms of emissions of carbon dioxide, declared the IEA chief economist Fatih Birol for “The Guardian”. ”Staying under those two degrees increase limit turns out to be an extremely difficult challenge to meet”, he added.

Scientists estimate that a temperature increase of more than two degrees Celsius would be a “dangerous climate change”, and IEA warned that the annual CO2 emissions should not exceed 32 gigatons in 2020. According to recent estimates, the emissions were 30.6 gigatons in 2010.

From migration to conflict

Nicholas Stern from the London School of Economics, the author of a report on climate change, claims that there will be serious consequences if the CO2 emissions are not reduced. Predictions “assume that there is a 50% chance that the temperature increase exceeds 4 degrees Celsius around 2100 “, he said.

Such heat would disrupt the lives and the means of livelihood for hundreds of millions of people across the globe, leading to great migration and conflicts.