Greenhouse Gases at New Peak in Sign of Asia Growth

Atmospheric levels of the main greenhouse gas have set another new peak in a sign of the industrial rise of Asian economies led by China, a senior scientist said on Saturday.

“The levels already in January are higher than last year,” said Kim Holmen, research director of the Norwegian Polar Institute, during a visit to the Troll scientific research station in Antarctica by Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
Holmen said measurements at a Norwegian station high in the Arctic showed levels of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, were around 394 parts per million, up about 1.5 parts per million from the previous records early in 2008.

The levels have risen by about a third since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, in tandem with more use of fossil fuels in power plants and factories, and defying recent international efforts to cut back.

The carbon levels usually peak just before the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere, where most of the world’s industries, land masses and plants are found. Levels then dip because plants soak up carbon dioxide as they grow.

Holmen said that the 2008 levels might still rise fractionally higher in coming weeks.

He said growing economies in Asia such as China and India were a reason for the rise in emissions, in line with a linked fall of industrial efficiency in the past two years or so — more carbon is being emitted per dollar of economic output in a reverse of a long improving trend.

“The affluent world wants to buy cheap stuff and we buy it…from the inefficient old-fashioned technology that we have got rid of,” he said. He added that there were also signs the oceans had become less efficient at soaking up carbon dioxide.

Planet Ark