| Emissions Greater than Predicted | 07 May 08 |
 A recent Earth Policy Institute report states carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are currently exceeding the worst-case scenario laid out in 2000 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The upper-limit of annual emission growth predicted by IPCC was 2.3 percent between 2000 and 2010 - Earth Policy Institute has reported an actual annual increase of 3.1 percent so far this century. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have already raised global average temperature by 0.8 degrees Celsius, with more than two thirds of that increase since 1980. Ice core records indicate there is more CO2 in the atmosphere now than at any point in the last 650,000 years. Rapid industrialization throughout Asia has resulted in CO2 emissions growing five times faster than the rest of the world. India's emissions have tripled since 1981 and China's have more than doubled since 1990. In Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Lester R. Brown outlines a plan with energy efficiency measures, technologies, and programs to protect the world's forests, which could cut net global carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent by 2020. Putting this plan into action would halt and reverse growing carbon dioxide emissions and avoid a trajectory of increased temperatures. View April 9, 2008 Earth Policy article View IPCC Special Emissions Scenarios, 2000 (PDF) View Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester R. Brown Sources: IPCC, Earth Policy |
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