A dangerous world record: CO2 emissions in 2010 highest in history

This week the International Energy Agency (IEA) disclosed that energy-related CO2 emissions in 2010 were the highest in history.

The drop noticed in 2009  seems to have been just a blip caused by the economic downturn. According to the IEA, immediate and adequate action is now required to keep global temperature rises below the political goal of +2°C. The IEA’s figures are confirmed by preliminary data from the US government which show that carbon dioxide levels are at the highest levels on record with 394.7 parts per million (ppm): an increase of nearly 1.6ppm compared to last year.

With the next stage of UN climate negotiations starting in Bonn on 4 June, a starker warning could not have come to the policy makers meeting there. In this regard, CAN-Europe strongly deplores the very weak response of Climate Commissioner Hedegaard to the warning from the IEA. The commissioner limited herself to a brief statement, giving the EU a pat on the back and inviting other nations to follow suit.

These comments sound almost cynical when the same day Reuters disclosed that the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) might become completely superfluous if a number of weak energy savings measures were to be implemented under the forthcoming Energy Efficiency Directive. If moderate energy savings could make the carbon price under the EU ETS collapse, we can only conclude that this system is in for a major review. There are not many reasons to be proud and certainly no reasons to put other nations on the spot. Christina Figueres, UNFCCC's Secretary General affirmed in a recent hearing in the European Parliament: “the EU needs to wipe before its own door first.” 

According to CAN-Europe, the answer is clear: avoiding dangerous climate change requires more mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, also in Europe. CAN-Europe asks EU policy makers to implement a −40% emissions reduction target by 2020 with at least 30% achieved in the EU. This also means that the EU ETS cap needs to be corrected, setting aside at least 1.4 Gtonnes of allowances in the period 2013-2020, and that ambitious and binding economy wide energy savings measures are proposed and implemented.