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Carbon Budget 2008

The Global Carbon Project (GCP) released Carbon Budget 2008 in November 2009.  This 2008 update of the global carbon budget and trends was published in Nature Geoscience.

The 2008 Carbon Budget shows that carbon dioxide emissions from human activities rose ~2 per cent in 2008 to an all-time high of 1.3 tonnes of carbon per capita per year.  GCP scientists say that rising emissions from fossil fuels last year were caused mainly by increased use of coal but there were minor decreases in emissions from oil and deforestation. The GCP also estimates that the growth in emissions from developing countries increased in part due to the production of manufactured goods consumed in developing countries.  

>>>> More about the Global Carbon Budget

According to the GCP, the human perturbation of the carbon cycle continues to grow strongly and track near the most carbon intensive scenarios of the UN-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.    The economic crisis will likely have a transitional impact on the growth of CO₂ emissions and an undetectable effect on the growth of atmospheric CO₂ (because the much larger inter-annual variability of the natural sinks).  The efficiency of the natural sinks has likely declined during the last 60 years. 

GCP Links

Highlights   Full Overview |  Atmospheric CO2  |  Emissions  |  Global Financial Crisis  |  Carbon Sinks

Full Presentation     PowerPoint (10mb)  |   PDF (2mb) 

For Media   Releases from Science Institutions  |  Free Images  |  Podcast

Climate Brief For Policy Makers  Low Resolution (2mb)  |   High Resolution (22mb)

Science  Contributors & Citations   |  Data

About the Global Carbon Project

The Global Carbon Project is produced by the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP).  The ESSP is a partnership for integrating the study of the Earth system, the ways it is changing and the implications for global and regional sustainability.  The 2008 Global Carbon Budget is produced by the Global Carbon Project with:

·         the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),

·         the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), and

·         the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 

More Carbon Cycle Information

CarboEurope.org  |  Global Carbon Budget 1958-2007 (Creating the graphs from a data file)

CO2Now  |  Emissions

EPA  |  Carbon cycle movie for kids (5 scenes)      FOR KIDS     

GCP  |  Global carbon budget 2007

NASA  Earth Observatory  |  The carbon cycle

NOAA  |  The global carbon cycle

UNESCO  |  The global carbon cycle |  2006

Woods  Hole  |  Understanding the global carbon cycle

Woods Hole  |  Balancing the global carbon budget  |  2007