"Carbon Emissions Show Biggest Jump Ever Recorded"

The news should be no surprise, but it is worrisome -- the biggest reason that the likelihood that the world will actually reverse the trend before the systems is beyond recovery is rising, not diminishing.

Source: Global Carbon Project

"Carbon Emissions Show Biggest Jump Ever Recorded"

Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record last year, upending the notion that the brief decline during the recession might persist through the recovery.

Emissions rose 5.9 percent in 2010, according to an analysis released Sunday by the Global Carbon Project, an international collaboration of scientists tracking the numbers. Scientists with the group said the increase, a half-billion extra tons of carbon pumped into the air, was almost certainly the largest absolute jump in any year since the Industrial Revolution, and the largest percentage increase since 2003.

The increase solidified a trend of ever-rising emissions that scientists fear will make it difficult, if not impossible, to forestall severe climate change in coming decades.

Climate Progress reported on a similar analysis last month (see “Biggest Jump Ever in Global Warming Pollution in 2010, Chinese CO2 Emissions Now Exceed U.S.’s By 50%“).  [For more on the new study click on the title above.]