Emission Gap Report 2020: Green House Gas Emission Sets New Record in 2019; Global Temperature Likely to Increase by 3 Degree Celsius

New Delhi, December 9: The United Nation Environment Programme released its annual Emission Gap Report 2020 on Wednesday. According to the report, gas emissions increased for three straight years and reached a record high in 2019. Total emission of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) set a new record at 59.1 Gigatonne in 2019, leading to an average rise in global temperature by 3 Degree Celsius. Alarming! Earth Lost ‘Staggering’ 28 Trillion Tonnes of Ice in Last 23 Years Due to Global Warming, Says UK Scientists.

The carbon dioxide released from burning of fossil fuel dominated the total green house gas emission in 2019. Such emission accounted for 65 per cent of the total, the report shows.Preliminary data suggest that fossil carbon dioxide emissions reached a record 38.0 Gigatonne in 2019. The emissions have grown by an average of 1.4 per cent annually since 2010, however it increased by 2.6 per cent in 2019, partly due to the massive outbreak of forest fires. Climate Change Will Damage Health of Entire Generation Unless There Are Immediate Cuts to Fossil Fuel Emissions.

The current year 2020, however witnessed some dip in the emission of GHGs as the various pollution inducing activities were halted worldwide owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdown. "CO2 emissions could decrease by about 7 per cent in 2020 (range: 2–12 per cent) compared with 2019 emission levels due to COVID-19, with a smaller drop expected in GHG emissions as non-CO2 is likely to be less affected. However, atmospheric concentrations of GHGs continue to rise,” said the report

Since 2010, a major junk of the emission, around 55 per cent, comes from four countries - USA, China, European Union and India. The top seven emitters including the Russian Federation, Japan and international transport have contributed to 65 per cent of the total emission. The G20 countries in total contributed 78 per cent.

The annual report from UNEP measures the gap between anticipated emissions and levels consistent with the Paris Agreement of 2015. Under the global climate pact, nations have committed to a long-term goal of limiting the average temperature rise to below 2 Degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it even further to 1.5 Degree Celsius.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 09, 2020 08:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).