ATMOSPHERIC levels of carbon dioxide and some other greenhouse gases grew at record rates last year, a CSIRO scientist said today.
But some of the worst ozone-depleting gases in the atmosphere had showed a drop in the past eight years, Paul Fraser, from CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, said.
The results of the testing at the Cape Grim meteorological station in Tasmania will feature at a climate meeting in Sydney tomorrow.
Dr Fraser said carbon dioxide grew by two parts per million (0.54 per cent) in 2005, the fourth year in a row of above-average growth.
"To have four years in a row of above-average carbon dioxide growth is unprecedented," Dr Fraser said. How long has that Kyoto thing been running? Four years you say. What a coincidence.
"In addition, the trend over recent years suggests the growth rate is accelerating."
He said the 30-year record of air collected at the Cape Grim observation station showed growth rates of just over one part per million in the early 1980s but, in recent years, carbon dioxide had increased at almost twice this rate.
On a related note, I found out yesterday that 66% of all 'carbon credits' come from China which is responsible for more of the increase in CO2 emissions than any other country. So in the wonderful world of Kyoto you can both increase CO2 emissions more than anyone else and sell more carbon credits than anyone else so others can emit more CO2. And they wonder why CO2 emissions are increasing. |