Carbon dioxide emissions will hit a record high globally in 2018

Author: Laurel Hamers / Source: Science News for Students

Global carbon-dioxide emissions are expected to hit a record high in 2018. This is despite urgent calls for countries to cut back. Those calls have come from climate scientists, international groups such as the United Nations — and kids and teens.

Worldwide, fossil-fuel use is projected to pump 2.7 percent more CO₂ into the air this year than in 2017. Last year, such emissions totaled some 9.9 billion metric tons (gigatons). Emissions rose slowly from 2014 to 2016. That has now changed. This year marks the second in a row where CO₂ levels have risen a lot. Such emissions fuel global warming and climate change.

The new data come from a report called the Global Carbon Budget. It was published online December 5 in Earth System Science Data. (The report uses data through early November to predict emissions for the whole year.)

News of the 2018 increase comes on the heels of the Fourth National Climate Assessment. Scientists put this big report together for the U.S. government. The report projects dire impacts in the United States if it…

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