Global 2008 CO2 Emissions Rose 2 Percent: German
Institute
Date: 11-Aug-09
Country: GERMANY
Author: Vera Eckert
Global 2008 CO2 Emissions Rose 2 Percent: German Institute Photo:
Stringer
Smoke billows from chimneys at a chemical factory in
Tianjin Municipality, China.
Photo: Stringer
FRANKFURT - Global carbon dioxide emissions in 2008 rose 1.94 percent
year-on-year to 31.5 billion metric tons, German renewable energy
industry institute IWR said on Monday, based on official information and
its own research.
The private institute, which is based in Muenster and advises German
ministries, said climate-harming carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rose for
the tenth year in succession, running counter to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol
aimed at trying to cut CO2 emissions by 5.2 percent by 2012.
IWR recommends linking measured emissions to individual countries'
renewable energy investment commitments.
It said if negotiators adopted this approach, it could stabilize overall
fossil fuels consumption and related CO2 emissions.
"Kyoto is not working out," said IWR Managing Director Norbert Allnoch.
Global emissions are 40 percent above those in 1990, the basis year for
the treaty.
"(Our recommendation) is a better approach than trying to persuade
countries to curb their industrial activities, which inevitably creates
hostility and bickering over who should be doing what to protect the
climate," he said.
The approach would involve linking the CO2 output of each of the 65
countries and some other regions to investments in renewable energy
industries such as wind, solar or biofuels.
Some 120 billion euros ($170.3 billion) were invested in renewables in
2008, IWR said.
It said this should at least be quadrupled to total around 500 billion
euros a year for the world to reverse the runaway trend in CO2
pollution.
"The higher the CO2 emissions, the higher the renewables investment in
each country should be," Allnoch said.
Carbon dioxide emissions from heavy industry participating in the
European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme fell 3.1 percent last year
compared with 2007, the EU's executive Commission said in mid-May.
This was due to falling industrial output from the global economic
slowdown, it said.
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