Global Carbon Budget 2015
The 2015 Global Carbon Budget, released during the UN Climate Change negotiations, said that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels and industry increased by 0.6% in 2014, with a total of about 9.8 Gigatonnes of carbon (GtC (billion tonnes of carbon) emitted to the atmosphere. This is 60% above emissions in 1990, the Kyoto Protocol reference year. The report from the Global Carbon Project, which is co-sponsored by the World Climate Research Programme, said emissions in 2015 are projected to decline by -0.6% (range -1.6% to +0.5%). In addition to the 9.8 GtC emitted to the atmosphere, an additional 1.1 GtC in carbon was added to the system from land change use, such as deforestation. In 2014, the ocean and land carbon sinks respectively removed 27% and 37% of total CO2 (fossil fuel and land use change), leaving 36% of emissions in the atmosphere. The ocean sink in 2014 was about 2.9 GtC, slightly above the 2005-2014 average, whilst the land sink was the largest recorded over the past 60 years at about 4.1 GtC, said the report.
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