CNN:
Carbon emissions from energy use reached a record level last year, up 5% from the previous record in 2008, the International Energy Agency said.
The Paris-based agency called the findings a “serious setback” to limit global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F), which was set at the U.N. climate change talks in Cancun, Mexico, last year.
“Our latest estimates are another wake-up call,” said Fatih Birol, chief economist at the IEA. “The world has edged incredibly close to the level of emissions that should not be reached until 2020 … it will be extremely challenging to succeed in achieving this global goal agreed in Cancun.”
Carbon emissions climbed to a record 30.6 gigatonnes in 2010. For the 2-degree goal to remain attainable, emissions in 2020 can’t be greater than 32 gigatonnes.
And for that to happen, carbon dioxide emissions over the next 10 years has to rise less than they did between 2009 and 2010, the agency says.
Haven’t we reached the “tipping point” yet? The faster we get there, the faster we can give up on economy-killing CO2 regulation for good, right?