Have Global CO₂ Emissions Peaked?

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/600871/have-global-co2-emissions-peaked/

[tk2kewl]

1. Global recession can do that

[GliderGuider]

2. A one-year downturn doesn't signal a peak.

Or even a plateau. Ask any ex-Peak-Oiler...

[NeoGreen]

3. CO2 is not all that we need to worry about...

...methane emissions need to drop too.

[Ike Y]

9. That's the Big One

Methane is at least 25 times worse than CO2 in trapping heat. Likely more.

[Binkie The Clown]

4. Atmospheric CO2 certainly hasn't peaked.

[NickB79]

6. My fear is that we're venting CO2 from former carbon sinks as positive feedbacks kick in

Dying forests, thawing permafrost, disintegrating hydrates, etc.

All contributing so much extra carbon that even if we've peaked in human-released carbon, the tipping point has already been crossed.

[Binkie The Clown]

7. That's a scary thought.

What's even more scary is that it might well be true!

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. That graph isn't terribly helpful for looking at something in the last year

This one is better:

[mackdaddy]

5. We are still adding CO2 at record levels. Just not at new higher record levels.

And the CO2 we add to the atmosphere will be active for centuries.

The US may be closing more coal power plants than we are opening, but India and China are still opening new plants on a literally daily basis.

If we shut down everything completely we would be well over the 2 degree C warming target, and maybe as high as 3 to 5 degree total increase as the effect of the CO2 added in the last few decades has really not kicked in yet.