The world’s greenhouse gas emissions are rising at a faster pace in 2018 than they did last year, researchers said Wednesday, the latest evidence that planet-warming pollution is proliferating again after a three-year lull in the middle of the decade. That trend is accelerating the earth’s collision course with some of the most severe consequences of climate change, scientists warned. Worldwide, carbon emissions are expected to increase by 2.7 percent in 2018, according to studies published in three respected scientific journals by the Global Carbon Project. But the recent rise in global emissions, together with other factors, including natural variability, could accelerate the timeline, thrusting the earth above that threshold of warming by 2030, the scientists said. They compared the emissions increases to a “speeding freight train.”

Source: New York Times December 05, 2018 18:24 UTC