Carbon Dioxide Emissions May Dip in 2015, Study Finds

(PARIS) — Global carbon dioxide emissions may be dropping ever so slightly this year, spurred by a dramatic plunge in Chinese pollution, according to a surprising new study by a scientific team that regularly tracks heat-trapping pollution. The unexpected dip could either be a temporary blip or true hope that the world is about to turn the corner on carbon pollution as climate talks continue in Paris, said the authors of a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. One skeptical scientist offered a $10,000 bet that world emissions will keep rising. Still, some leaders cheered the study. “That shouldn’t tell us we don’t need to do anything, but that shows there is action,” Janos Pasztor, the United Nations Assistant Secretary General for climate change, told The Associated Press at the Paris climate talks. “Things are going in the right direction. All we need is a strong agreement.” Using preliminary data through October 2015, the international team of emission trackers project that worldwide emissions this year will end 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (220 million U.S. tons) less than the 35.9 billion metric tons (39.6 billion U.S. tons) they calculated for 2014. That’s a 0.6 percent decrease, but there’s a margin of error — so the difference from last year to this could be as big a drop of 1.6 percent or actually a 0.5 percent increase, the study said. The projected global emissions for 2...
Source: TIME: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized carbon emissions climate change Source Type: news