Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Continue Increasing
Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from sources all around the globe are estimated to be increasing at a renewed, distressingly rapid, rate for 2018 to date, 2.7% for the year, after having been determined to be lower, about 1.6% for the full year of 2017. This evaluation is part of a detailed accounting of all sources of CO 2 emissions and of planetary processes that remove CO 2 from the atmosphere. The study is undertaken now an annual basis and reported in the “Global Carbon Budget 2018” ( C. Le Quere and 70 coauthors , Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 2141-2194, 2018 ). The main sources of CO 2 emissions are use of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) and the manufacture of cement. The two largest factors that remove CO 2 are absorption into the waters of the ocean, and plant and soil incorporation of CO 2 . The net balance between all emitting and absorbing factors leads to the increase in man-made atmospheric CO 2 that is the main concern when considering global...