India’s carbon emissions are projected to rise as much as 6.3% in 2018, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and the Global Carbon Project, an organisation that quantifies carbon emissions worldwide.
Global carbon emissions are projected to increase 2.7%, the researchers said. With this, it has risen for a second year in a row after little growth from 2014 to 2016. In 2017, the emissions increased 1.6%.
“A projected rise [of global emissions] of more than 2% has been driven by a solid growth in coal use for the second year in a row, and sustained growth in oil and gas use,” the university said in a statement issued on Wednesday. The data was published in journals the same day.
India is among the four largest carbon emitters in the world along with China, the United States, and the European Union. India’s emissions account for 7% of the global output and are projected to rise as the “economy booms”. The researchers said wind and solar energy are growing fast but from a low base.
The researchers said global carbon dioxide emissions have China’s carbon emissions account for 27% of the global total and have increased an estimated 4.7% in 2018. The US accounts for 15% and its emissions are estimated to rise 2.5% this year “after several years in decline”. The European Union accounts for 10% of global emissions and a small decline of around 0.7% is projected.
Lead researcher Corinne Le Quéré, a professor of Climate Change Science and Policy at the university, said emissions need to peak and rapidly decrease so that climate change can be tackled. “With this year’s growth in emissions, it looks like the peak is not yet in sight,” he added. “This year we have seen how climate change can already amplify the impacts of heatwaves worldwide. The California wildfires are just a snapshot of the growing impacts we face if we don’t drive emissions down rapidly.”
On Monday, Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan had expressed confidence that India would achieve all its targets to tackle climate change ahead of the deadlines it has set for itself. He was speaking at the 24th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland.
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