Carbon Emissions Still Rising

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by the second highest annual rise in the past six decades, according to new data.

Atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas were 414.8 parts per million in May, which was 3.5ppm higher than the same time last year, according to readings from the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii, where carbon dioxide has been monitored continuously since 1958.

This is the seventh consecutive year in which steep increases in ppm have been recorded, well above the previous average

Scientists have warned for more than a decade that concentrations of more than 450ppm risk triggering extreme weather events and temperature rises as high as 2C, beyond which the effects of global heating are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible.

Predictably, scientists are once again leading the demand for governments to do something.

 In the UK, the Tory government has been keen to trumpet its ‘global leadership’ in reducing emissions, a claim somewhat undermined by the latest report which pointed out that the UK’s net emissions have gone up, not down. 

Perhaps, if countries and sectors of the economy could be got to act together there is a chance of mitigating climate change. But that’s precisely the problem. Businesses from different countries and within different sectors are in competition with each other for a share of world profits. It is not in their nature or interest to act together or let one of their rivals get a competitive advantage over them. If one country or company feels that the adoption of some measure would result in this they won’t agree to it and will try to sabotage its adoption. The vested interests of capitalist corporations and governments get in the way of any substantive cooperation and coordination. 

Trade wars. International disputes. Global recessions. That’s more like capitalism