by Jos G.J. Olivier, Greet Janssens-Maenhout, Jeroen A.H.W. Peters and Julian Wilson
- After a 1% decline in 2009, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased by more than 5% in 2010, which is unprecedented in the last two decades, but similar to the increase in 1976 when the global economy was recovering from the first oil crisis and subsequent stock market crash. CO2 emissions went up in most of the major economies, led by China and India with increases of 10% and 9% respectively. The average annual growth rate in CO2 emissions over the last three years of the credit crunch, including a 1% increase in 2008 when the first impacts became visible, is 1.7%, almost equal to the long-term annual average of 1.9% for the preceding two decades back to 1990. However, most industrialised countries have not recovered fully from their decreases in emissions of 7 to 12% in 2009.
Olivier, J.G.J., G. Janssens-Maenhout, J.A.H.W. Peters and J. Wilson (2011). "Long-term trend in global CO2 emissions - 2011 report." PBL Working Paper No. 500253004, JRC Technical Note No. JRC65918, Jul 2011.