21 September 2014: Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning and cement production reached a record 9.9±0.5 billion tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2) in 2013, rising 2.3% over the previous year and 61% above the rate in 1990, according to the Global Carbon Project. The results, published in the ‘Carbon Budget 2014,’ predict that emissions will grow by another 2.5% to 10.1±0.5 GtCO2 in 2014.

From 2004-2013, the Global Carbon Project reports that deforestation and land-use change contributed an average of 0.9±0.5 GtC, or 8% of all anthropogenic emissions over the same period. In addition to anthropogenic emissions from fossil fuels, cement production, and land-use change, the budget tracks emission pathways, carbon dioxide removals by natural sinks, atmospheric carbon dioxide and cumulative carbon emissions.

Other key findings include the observation that oceans and land carbon sinks removed 27% and 23% of total carbon dioxide in 2013, leaving one-half of emissions in the atmosphere. As a result, the global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration rose by a reported 2.53±0.09 parts per million in 2013, contributing to a global average concentration of 395.31±0.10 ppm over the course of the year.

The Global Carbon Project is co-sponsored by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and other members of the Earth Systems Science Partnership (ESSP). The Project was established in 2001 to assist the international scientific community to develop a complete assessment of the global carbon cycle in support of policy debate and action to slow the rate of increase of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. [Publication: Carbon Budget 2014] [Carbon Budget Highlights]