According to satellite data released by the World Bank on Thursday, gas flaring increased by 7% in 2023, reversing a decline in 2022. The rise resulted in extra planet-warming emissions equivalent to 23 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) – similar to adding about 5 million cars to the roads, it said.

Gas flaring emits greenhouse gases including black carbon and methane, which has a warming effect about 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year period.

The top flaring countries in 2023 were Russia, Iran, Iraq and the United States, with just nine countries responsible for 75% of gas flaring globally.

Last year also saw an uptick in the intensity of flaring, meaning the amount of gas flared per barrel of oil produced, as oil prices spiked above $90 a barrel in the autumn.

In some countries, such as Iran and Libya, increased flaring intensity was attributed to increased oil production, coupled with a lack of investment in and prioritisation of gas recovery and utilisation.

Intensity was also high in countries affected by conflict, such as Syria, where operators struggle to address flaring.

“We’re hopeful that this is somewhat of an anomaly and the longer-term trend will be dramatic reductions,” said Zubin Bamji, manager of the World Bank’s Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GFMR) Partnership, which monitors flaring and supports governments and oilfield operators to reduce related emissions.

Decoupling trend

That hope is underpinned by the “decoupling of a long-standing correlation between oil production and gas flaring” since the late 1990s, Bamji explained in emailed comments.

Operators can minimise flaring through measures such as re-injecting gas back into the earth or capturing it for utilisation.

Demetrios Papathanasiou, director of the World Bank’s energy and extractives global practice, said in a statement on the data that if the wasted gas were captured and used, it could displace dirtier energy and generate enough power to double electricity supplies in sub-Saharan Africa.

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But others argue that using flared gas more efficiently – or regulating flaring and its related methane emissions – will not be eliminate the practice as long as fossil fuels are still being produced.

“The number one thing we need to do is put the oil and gas industry into decline,” said Lorne Stockman, research co-director at Oil Change International (OCI), a nonprofit group that campaigns against fossil fuels.

Pledges versus regulation

The increase in flaring suggests that growing global attention and initiatives to eliminate flaring have not been “sufficient or sustainable enough”, according to the World Bank’s report.

Operators and countries representing about 60% of flaring worldwide have endorsed the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 (ZRF) initiative, while 155 countries have signed a Global Methane Pledge, launched at the COP26 climate summit in 2021, to collectively cut methane emissions.

Jonathan Banks, global director of methane pollution prevention at Clean Air Task Force, an environmental group focused on decarbonising energy, said those initiatives are “helpful”.

But, he added, governments and companies are still “not doing nearly enough” to stop flaring, whether in the form of policies to force businesses to take action or energy firms’ own plans and investments.

Despite dilution, officials say new nature law can restore EU carbon sinks

That is changing, Banks said, referring to recently introduced regulations in the United States, Canada and the European Union which aim to reduce methane emissions. “But those new policies take time to be implemented and enforced,” he noted.

The EU’s Methane Strategy, adopted in May, will include a methane transparency requirement on gas imports that looks to penalise gas flaring and venting – an even more polluting practice of releasing unignited gas.

“The potential to use access to the European market as a way to drive action is huge,” Banks said, adding that only a global standard, applied to all internationally traded oil and gas, could bring an end to flaring and venting.

US gas “certification”

Without such a standard, oil and gas companies are in practice policing themselves when it comes to curbing flaring and methane emissions more broadly.

In the US, for example, third-party gas “certification” companies track methane emissions coming from oil and gas infrastructure and tell consumers their gas is “responsibly sourced”.

According to OCI, there is no set standard for what level of methane leak reductions qualify natural gas for this label.

“Methane became a reputational issue for the US oil and gas industry a few years ago,” said OCI’s Stockman. “Suddenly we saw this proliferation of companies offering to monitor methane, and provide a certification to gas producers as an incentive to sign up.”

Gas certification is currently part of oil and gas companies’ voluntary efforts to act on their methane pollution – in the US, Colorado is the only state that directly measures methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure. But, according to OCI, the industry is pressing regulators to use certification “as a proxy for regulatory oversight.”

Fossil fuel industry under pressure to cut record-high methane emissions

Research by Earthworks and OCI found that these certifying companies use unreliable technology, which missed all but one of the emissions “events” captured by researchers’ own monitoring equipment.

They also found conflicts of interest on the part of leaders and board members of certification companies, including holding investments in the same oil and gas clients they were working with and promoting fossil gas as a clean energy source.

While regulation is needed, Stockman said, it must be monitored by governments and is near impossible to enforce at scale, due to practical and technological limitations.

Even satellite technology is limited in its capacity to observe small-scale emissions events at “hundreds of thousands of individual sites”, he said.

“We can’t trust the industry,” he added. “The way to keep methane out of the atmosphere is to keep it in the ground.”

(Reporting by Daisy Clague; editing by Megan Rowling)

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The European Union has sought to be a climate leader and Germany has set itself more ambitious targets than the bloc as a whole, but in many countries politics and the economic crisis have pushed the climate crisis down the agenda.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, aims to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 65% by 2030 compared with 1990. Last year its CO2 levels were already 40% below the 1990 level, but the new reports said that was not enough.

“The expected overall reduction is probably overestimated,” Hans-Martin Henning, the chairman of a council of climate experts that advises the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

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Failing net zero plan

The German government has ordered 130 measures in various sectors. The buildings and transport sectors in particular are failing to implement them, the council of government climate advisers’ report said.

The buildings sector is expected to be 35 million tonnes of CO2 short of target by 2030, while the transport sector is expected to have excess emissions of between 117 million and 191 million tonnes compared with the government target.

Tuesday’s advisers’ report coincided with another from the UBA that found Germany cannot become climate neutral by 2045 on the basis of planned and existing government climate policy.

US sparks controversy by backing oil company’s carbon-sucking plans

It drafted two scenarios, one for current policy and one for planned, that found only 82% and 86% of targeted emissions cuts compared to 1990, would be achieved.

“According to the current status, Germany would still emit 229 million tonnes of climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions in the target year 2045,” the UBA report found.

Government promises

The economy ministry said policies it has implemented since the current government took office in late 2021 would cut around 80% of the surplus CO2 emissions it said were a legacy of policies by the previous government. It also said the coalition government would examine the council’s findings to try to get the country on target.

Under pressure from the pro-business FDP party, the ruling coalition in June agreed to dilute a bill to phase out oil and gas heating systems from 2024. The changes would contribute to the building sector missing its targets, the report found.

Devastating Beijing floods test China’s ‘sponge cities’

The transport sector accounts for two thirds of the emissions remaining to be cut, the UBA report showed.

The council said assumptions made by the transport ministry on the effectiveness of the planned and already implemented measures, such as a discounted national rail ticket, a CO2 surcharge on truck tolls and increased working from home, were also optimistic.

“Private vehicle individual transport is not addressed, so to speak. And that is ultimately a gap in the transport programme,” Brigitte Knopf, deputy chairwoman of the council, told a news conference presenting the report findings on Tuesday.

The transport ministry was not immediately available for comment.

In response to the reports, non-profit group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) said an emergency climate programme was needed, especially for the transport sector.

It said it would take legal action to try to enforce a speed limit on German motorways, which currently have no limits on how fast motorists can drive, and to reduce government subsidies that harm the environment, such as tax relief for company cars.

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The EPA gathered data from 8,000 major emitters such as steel works
(Pic: Elliot Brown/Flickr)

By Megan Darby

The latest data shows US greenhouse gas emissions rising, a week after president Barack Obama promised leadership on climate change.

Emissions from 8,000 large industrial sources in 2013 were up 0.6% on the previous year, driven by an increase in coal use for power generation.

The data gathered by the Environmental Protection Agency covers around half the country’s total emissions, which cause climate change.

While it does not give the whole picture, the upward trend is consistent with recent figures from the Energy Information Administration.

Those showed emissions from energy use in the first half of 2014 were 2.7% higher than the same period last year.

At last Tuesday’s climate summit in New York, Obama told world leaders the US would hit its target to cut emissions 17% from 2005 levels by 2020.

The US and China have “a special responsibility to lead” on climate action as two biggest emitters, he said.

However, after falling 10% between 2005 and 2012, US greenhouse gas emissions have turned in the wrong direction.

“Fugitive” methane emissions from shale gas wells bucked the trend, dropping 73% since 2011.

That will help to answer one of the main environmental concerns raised about “fracking” techniques.

The EPA has brought in oil and gas industry standards it said should further reduce methane leaks.

EPA chief Gina McCarthy said: “Climate change, fuelled by greenhouse gas pollution, is threatening our health, our economy, and our way of life – increasing our risks from intense extreme weather, air pollution, drought and disease.

““EPA is supporting the president’s climate action plan by providing high-quality greenhouse gas data to inform effective climate action.”

As part of Obama’s climate action plan, the EPA is seeking to bring in restrictions on pollution from coal power stations.

The measures, which the EPA estimates will shrink emissions from the power sector 30% by 2030, are fiercely contested.

Coal producers and generators complain the regulations will hurt the economy. That message has been taken up by Republicans and a few Democrat candidates ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Under pressure from lobbyists, the agency extended the consultation period by six weeks. It is also expected to face legal challenges.

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(Pic: Jerry Ferguson/Flickr)

By Gerard Wynn

The United States led falls in greenhouse gas emissions across developed countries in 2012, newly published data show, reflecting the country’s shift to natural gas from coal.

The data show wide differences according to how emissions are measured, for example whether these include changes in emissions from forests, and according to the reference year for comparisons.

Such differences show the difficulty countries face to agree next year a new global climate deal which includes emissions targets.

Developed countries have to report their annual greenhouse gas emissions, under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which excused developing countries from such an obligation.

The data is the most comprehensive record of greenhouse gas emissions.

The United Nations last week published its latest annual update, for the year 2012, which showed that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fell 3.4% compared with the previous year, leading falls elsewhere including countries and regions which have far more ambitious climate policies.

Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, for example, fell by just 1.3%.

US emissions are falling because of rapidly rising domestic shale gas production, which has improved the economics of gas-fired power generation compared with more carbon-emitting coal.

But EU emissions are far lower than those in the United States compared with 1990, the baseline year against which emissions targets were measured under the Kyoto Protocol.

In aggregate, developed country emissions in 2012 fell by 1.3%, or by some 223 million tonnes.

Analysts have pointed out that once consumption by developed countries is taken into account, including imports from emerging economies, their emissions are actually rising.

Small print

The data show how difficult it will be to agree next year the fine print of a climate deal which limits the emissions of most major countries.

For example, some countries perform better if changes from land use including tree planting is included.

Russia’s greenhouse gas emissions were more than 540 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent lower in 2012, after such land use change was taken into account (see figure below).

According to a U.N. draft document presenting an overview of matters to be discussed and negotiated, published last week, rules still had to be agreed on how to account for land use change under a new climate deal.

In addition, the latest data show that changes in emissions were wildly different according to the reference year for comparisons.

For example, U.S. emissions have continued to rise since the Kyoto base year of 1990, which is why it prefers to use its own base year of 2005 against which to establish targets and measure progress.

Again, the latest U.N. working document says that the choice of base year is yet to be agreed.

Finally, former communist countries have cut emissions far below 1990 levels, as a result of an economic transition which led to the closure of uncompetitive heavy industries.

It is notable that Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have made some of the biggest emissions cuts in the past two decades, and will want to be rewarded for that under a new climate deal.

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EU greenhouse gas emissions are at their lowest level since 1990, according to figures released today.

According to the data for 2011 released by the European Environment Agency (EEA), the EU’s emissions are 18.4% lower than in 1990. The bloc has a commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to cut emissions by 20% by 2020.

“The greenhouse gas emissions cut in 2011 is good news, however, it was largely due to a warmer winter. Nonetheless, the EU is making clear progress towards its emission targets,” said Jacqueline McGlade, executive director, EEA.

The Drax Power Station in the UK, the country’s largest point source of CO2 (Source: Flickr/thewritingzone)

“There was an increase in consumption of more carbon-intensive fuels such as coal, while hydroelectricity production and gas consumption decreased. If Europe is to achieve the transition towards a low-carbon society, it will need sustained investment in technology and innovation,” she added.

Rising gas prices and falling coal costs have encouraged many European countries, notably the UK and Germany to use more high carbon coal.

Wendel Trio, director of CAN Europe told RTCC:

“We are happy to see that Europe is moving onto a radically low-carbon pathway. Now the EU must stay the course. At this rate it should be able to fully decarbonise its economy by 2050.”

The EU has a long term target to reduce emissions by 80-95% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.

It is negotiating the its 2030 target now with a 40% figure suggested so far.

The post EU greenhouse gas emissions lowest since 1990 appeared first on Climate Home News.

An updated version of the World Resource Institute’s global greenhouse gas emissions chart has been released.

ASN Bank and the consultancy Ecofys have released a new version with data from 2010 added into the mix.

The chart shows which of the big greenhouse gases is emitted from each fuel source and from which sector.

Since 2000, CO2 has become less dominant falling from 77% to 76% in the ten years from 2000 to 2010. Methane and industrial gases like HFCs both crept up in its place.

Emissions resulting from land use change fell from 18.2% to 15%.

Transport grew from 13.5% to 15% during the same period.

Source: ASN Bank/Ecofys CLICK TO EXPAND

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Who is the most responsible for the world hurtling beyond 400 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere?

For many it is straightforward. The USA is out on its own in terms of historical CO2 emissions.

Data from the US Department of Energy’s Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) puts the country’s emissions from burning fossil fuels at 95.4 billion metric tonnes of CO2.

That’s around the same as the next three combined, Russia, China and Japan.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which this week is hosting negotiations on a global deal to reduce emissions, acknowledged the responsibility developed countries have for this situation in its original text.

“The largest share of historical and current global emissions of greenhouse gases has originated in developed countries,” it reads.

But given the gravity of the situation, clearly this doesn’t mean that the US is the only country that can do something about it.

The contribution of India and China (9.7bn and 33.9bn metric tonnes respectively) is about the same as Germany and the UK (22.7bn and 20.1bn). In comparison, Senegal is on 39 million.

Blame

Allocating blame is not the same as sharing responsibility. Different data sets based on past emissions, future growth, emissions per head of population and human development indexes can do either.

As governments meet to discuss the shape of a global emissions reduction deal that applies to rich and poor, figuring out who is to blame and for what, will inform how much action is expected of them in any new agreement.

The rules that the negotiations adhere to also stress that action must reflect the “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities” of each nation, referred to as CBDR and RC.

Talking purely in terms of responsibility for present-day emissions, China has the most to answer for. It also has the most potential to avoid future emissions. If that is the goal of the UNFCCC, then you could argue China has more responsibility than anyone else.

Developing nations must cut the growth of their emissions but rich nations must help them ensure that can happen in a way that does not derail development (Source: UN)

It’s not always that simple. JM Mauskar, special secretary with the Indian Ministry of Environment told the 2011 UN summit in Durban: “India is not a major emitter. It just happens to be a very large country”.

Is a government’s responsibility proportional to its population? Mauskar’s point was that the country’s low emissions per head of population, means it is a low emitter. Yet in absolute terms that is not the case.

Mauskar and other members of the Group of 77 developing countries (G77) argue that emissions per head of population are a more accurate figure.

Not surprisingly Qatar, the world’s highest emitter based on this metric (largely due to gas flaring) says the figures are totally misleading.

“We should not concentrate on the per capita [emissions]. We should concentrate on the total amount from each country,” Deputy PM Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah said at the start of the 2012 climate summit. He was hard to ignore – given he was chairing the conference.

And yet the atmosphere doesn’t discriminate against the source of CO2. And the more you fiddle with the numbers the more misleading they can be.

India’s emissions divided by its population are tiny. But preliminary estimates for 2011’s total emissions published by CDIAC show its greenhouse gas output rose 7.47% from 2010 and are now more than four times those of the UK. And rising. Fast.

Rich responsibilities

Poor countries argue that the concept of ‘differentiated responsibility’ is important to ensure they are not lumbered with legislation that hinders their development.

But it’s vital that technology and knowledge is shared across the world to demonstrate that progress does not necessarily mean dozens of coal power stations belching fumes into the sky.

And it’s important to recognise what has been achieved by development and science – repeating mistakes made by previous governments or countries is not an excuse.

Emissions in the developed world up until 1950 underwrote the development of modern medicine, skyscrapers and air travel. Perhaps there is a cut off point beyond which development turns into conspicuous consumption. Should only emissions beyond that level be targeted?

In Doha UK Climate change minister Greg Barker argued emissions post 1992 were vital – after the world had admitted it has a problem.

“I think it’s one thing to emit unknowingly, it’s quite another to emit when you know the damage is being done by the actions you are undertaking,” he said.

This is selective history, as scientists had a fairly clear idea of the greenhouse gas effect 100 years ago.

What rich nations can do is use their resources to curb their own excesses and ensure that their mistakes are not repeated.

To do that they will need to supply support, not just finance, but logistical and technical expertise to ensure that developing nations continue to do just that, without driving the whole world toward excessive levels of warming.

The UN climate talks look set to be dominated in the near future by discussions over how to distribute responsibility.

Instead of looking at how to manipulate statistics, governments should simply look at the maximum number of emissions they can avoid without lowering basic standards of living. Those that have already walked the path should be at hand with the resources to allow others to follow.

Big eight historical fossil fuel emitters

USA 95.4bn metric tonnes
Russia (USSR) 38.9bn
China 33.9bn
Japan 24.4bn
Germany 22.7bn
UK 20.1bn
India 9.7bn
France 9.4bn

Data from CDIAC, up to 2009, start dates vary

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A new paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres says that the effect of black carbon could have been underestimated in existing climate change models by as much as a factor of three.

Black carbon, of which soot is one form, is produced by diesel engines and the burning of wood, peat and other solid fuels.

The science behind the issue is further complicated by the cooling effect that some of the gases frequently emitted in tandem by fuels rich in black carbon.

Landfill fires, diesel engines and solid fuel burning are major sources of black carbon other short-term climate forcers. (Source: Flickr/ksimonsays)

Despite this, there are still some source of black carbon that if reduced, could deliver significant cuts in warming.

“One great candidate is soot from diesel engines. It may also be possible to look at wood and coal burning in some kinds of industry and in small household burners,” said Professor Piers Forster from the University of Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment, who co-led the study.

“In these cases, soot makes up a large fraction of their emissions, so removing these sources would likely cool the climate.”

The US has spearheaded the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) in partnership with UNEP and more than 20 governments including Australia, Bangladesh, Ghana and the EU.

Health benefits

Particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and other emissions related to diesel and wood burning are also bad for human health delivering benefits for air pollution and the climate.

“In the past there has been a rather artificial separation between science and policy that deals with ‘pollution’ – meaning the impact of dirty air on health – and climate, which is often CO2-focused and considered to be on such a large global scale that it induces policy ‘despair’,” said Prof Alastair Lewis, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of York.

“In practice, many governments have been extremely successful in tackling their national air pollution problems, in contrast to global attempts to deal with CO2.”

Despite the study’s focus on black carbon, Forster was keen to stress the importance of continuing to focus climate mitigation efforts on CO2.

“Soot mitigation is an immediate effect but helps for a short time only. We will always need to mitigate CO2 to achieve a long-term cooling.”

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It’s official, Canada has left the Kyoto Protocol.

Sadly, it’s not a massive shock.

The government announced its intentions to leave the global treaty on climate change last December, and showed no inclination during the recent Doha round of negotiations to backtrack.

The shameful record continues: It’s official:Harper government withdraws from Kyoto climate agreement o.canada.com/2012/12/14/its… via @thecanadacom

— Judi Tyabji (@JudiTyabji) December 16, 2012

Few local news outlets covered the final withdrawal, and despite some rumblings on Twitter, there were no major protests in those final days.

Canada condemned at home and abroad for pulling out of Kyoto treaty prsm.tc/s3MGxB via @prismatic

— Chris Caple (@chriscaple) December 17, 2012

@zoecaron finally – other countries call out Canada for its shameful refusal to meet its Kyoto commitments.

— Samantha Smith (@pandaclimate) December 10, 2012

Perhaps much of the environmental sector were resigned to the decision by this weekend, hence the silence, but there were some groups reacting to the decision.

Stephan Taylor, Director of the National Citizens Coalition – a lobby group for free enterprise – was quick to show his support for the government’s move.

Producing a diagram for the occasion, Taylor wrote on his Facebook page: “One year ago, Canada declared it was opting-out of the Kyoto Protocol, beginning our one year exit from this money drain. Today is the first day of our freedom. I know I LIKE this, do you?”

It’s Canada’s first day out of the Kyoto protocol. Here’s a little something I whipped up for the occasion: on.fb.me/U39fxB#cndpoli

— Stephen Taylor (@stephen_taylor) December 15, 2012

Canadian politicians were also quick to set out their own positions.

With an election coming in 2015, they appear to be drawing the battle lines on what could end up a strong campaigning point.

Some MPs were quick to show their support for the decision. Tory MP Rob Anders called the Protocol a “tremendous waste of resources.”

He said that Canada’s withdrawal does not threaten their credibility but in fact improves it. “We were the first to say, the emperor wears no clothes,” he said.

Day of shame

Elizabeth May, the country’s only Green MP, called the event “a day of shame” for the Canadian people.

“It is the first treaty in the history of Canada that we have ever ratified and then repudiated and quit,” she said. “This decision threatens Canada’s standing in the world and, more importantly, our children’s future.”

“This is a day of shame. Our children and grandchildren will harshly look back on Harper’s years in power as a period of reckless disregard for future generations. Harper’s Conservatives present us with a fake contradiction between environmental protection and a healthy economy.”

Ahead of the Doha talks May warned RTCC that Canada’s unpunished withdrawal from the Protocol had also threatened the treaty’s integrity as well as that of any future climate deal.

She said it would allow other nations to follow suit – and sadly she has been proved correct.

Since Canada’s announcement, New Zealand, Japan and Russia have all said they would not participate in the treaty’s second commitment period. Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are likely to abandon ship shortly.

But to date, Canada is still the only country to have left without completing the first commitment period.

Megan Leslie, from the NPD opposition party warned that the move would see Canada left behind as other countries begin their transition to greener economies.

“While the rest of the world is moving forward in the fight against climate change, Canada is falling behind,” she said. “We are leaving a huge ecological, economic and social debt to future generations.

“New Democrats are more determined than ever to fight against the Conservatives’ disastrous attacks on the environment… Today, we have nothing to celebrate. Let us work together to replace the Conservatives in 2015 and build a fairer, greener and more prosperous country.”

Perhaps most saddened by Canada’s withdrawal, however, is Liberal MP Stephane Dion, on of the main players in Canada becoming a signatory of the Protocol.

He loved this treaty so much he named his dog Kyoto. “I’m sad to say the dog is in better shape than the agreement it was name after,” he told the Toronto Sun.

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The volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2011, according to the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – the primary source of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities – reached 390.9 parts per million (ppm) last year, 40% above the pre-industrial level.

It has increased by an average of two ppm per year for the last 10 years, and is growing at a similar rate to the previous decade.

The 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that is the world could stablise greenhouse gas emissions below 450 ppm there would be a 50-50 chance of stay within the target of a 2°C rise in temperature.

Some campaigners and scientists now call for actions which would help reduce this level to 350 ppm.

Since the start of the industrial era in 1750, fossil fuels have been the primary source of the 375 billion metric tonnes of carbon released into the atmosphere, according to the bulletin.

“The billions of tonnes of additional carbon dioxide in our atmosphere will remain there for centuries, causing our planet to warm further and impact on all aspects of life on earth,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. “Future emissions will only compound the situation.

“Until now, carbon sinks have absorbed nearly half of the carbon dioxide humans emitted in the atmosphere, but this will not necessarily continue in the future.”

Levels of methane, another long-lived greenhouse gas, have risen steadily in the past three years, after levelling off for about seven years previously. Levels of nitrous oxide also rose in 2011.

The WMO said these gases are all closely linked to human activities – fossil fuel use, deforestation and intensive agriculture – and have increased the warming effect on the climate by 30% between 1990 and 2011.

The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reports on the atmospheric concentration of the gases, not emissions. Emissions represent what goes into the atmosphere, while concentrations are what remain in the atmosphere after the complex interactions between the atmosphere, the biosphere and the oceans.

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