Carbon dioxide pollution reaches a new record in 2023

The battle against pollution is an extremely challenging one, with humanity continuing to lose significant battles. Global carbon dioxide emissions, primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels and a major contributor to global warming, are set to increase by approximately 1%, reaching a new record in 2023, according to a preliminary study by scientists. In order for humanity to achieve its goals of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by nearly half in this decade and thus limit the devastating effects on the climate, global emissions should have decreased by about 5% this year, said Glen Peters, director of research at the CICERO climate research institute in Norway, speaking to AFP. Instead, they continue to rise: in 2023 alone, it is expected that they will increase by 0.5-1.5%, according to Peters' findings. "It is very unlikely that emissions will decrease," the researcher stated. These still preliminary figures show just how challenging it will be to reduce emissions rapidly enough to meet the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Warming beyond this threshold risks triggering dangerous tipping points in the climate system, warn scientists. "Each year, emissions continue to rise, making it even more difficult to follow paths in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement," Peters emphasized. The complete data from the study will be published in December, when world leaders will gather in the United Arab Emirates for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28). The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned about the negative impact of increased investments in fossil fuels and "stubbornly high emissions" during the post-COVID-19 economic recovery and the energy crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "The scientific community hoped in 2015 that emissions might peak then," Peters recalls, and again, during the pandemic, there was hope that 2019 would mark a peak. "And yet, here we are with a new peak in 2022 and another peak expected in 2023," he noted. "What concerns me is that we are doing half the work, developing clean energy, and not doing the other half, giving up fossil fuels," explained the researcher.