CO2 emissions at all time high

(UPI): Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming, increased to an all-time high of 34 billion tons in 2011, European researchers said. As part of a global increase of 3 percent last year, emissions in China reached 7.2 tons per capita, putting that country in the company of the major industrialized countries, whose emissions vary from 6 to 9 tons per capita, the European Commission Joint Research Center said in a release Thursday. Of the industrialized countries, the United States remains one of the largest emitters of CO2, with 17.3 tons per capita despite a decline due to the recession in 2008-2009, high oil prices and an increased share of natural gas, the researchers said.

In the European Union CO2 emissions dropped by 3 percent to 7.5 tons per capita, they said. The 3 percent increase in global CO2 emissions in 2011 is above the past decade's average annual increase of 2.7 percent, the researchers said.

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