Warning: Bad News Ahead
As 2018 has draw to a closer and as New Years festivities wrap, I am compelled to reflect on the sobering state of the climate as atmospheric CO2Â continues to rise at unprecedented rates.
🔥For starters, global carbon emissions in 2018 have hit an all time high of 37.1bn tonnes (indicative estimate measured in Nov. 2018).
This is particularly sobering because we have essentially experienced a so called ‘plateau” of global CO2 emission between 2014 and 2016, suggesting to the optimists amongst us that we may be reigning in global emissions. Then in 2017, global emissions increased by 1.6% relative to 2016, breaking the plateau, as shown in the image taken from the IEA Global Energy & CO2 Status Report 2017.
More bad news: Furthermore, a report released in December by the Global Carbon Project, estimated that global emissions are likely to have increased by an indicative 2.7% in 2018, after the 1.6% increase in 2017.Â
Why it matters: Emissions are rising despite the expansion of solar and wind power, and displacement of coal by natural gas and renewables in many markets across the world markets. This highlights the challenge of reducing emissions in a world with does seem able to stop emitting. CO2 output is on pace to eventually bring about global warming levels that surpass the targets of the Paris climate agreement.
Below is the latest reading of the Keeling Curve, the zig zag trend is attributed to seasonality (in spring and summer, vegetation absorbs CO2, while in autumn and winter, with less vegetation to absorb the CO2 the concentration in the atmosphere increases, hence the pattern), and the peaks of the curve are usually in September / October of each year.
This was just a check in on the state of the climate. I’m back to writing and more articles will follow.
Happy New Year to everyone, we have our work cut out for us.
Photo credit: georgeclerk/iStockphoto
Investing In The Time of Climate Change 