I love data because data doesn’t lie. People do, and people use data to lie. But if you take an honest look at data, it’s more likely to reveal reality. So when the World Resource Institute published an article that included data published by Climate Watch on the history of carbon dioxide emissions, I decided to look at the numbers. The data went back as far as 1850. It’s interesting to see what the world looked like 174 years ago, but not terribly relevant. What is relevant are the trends in the last 10 and 20 years, globally, and among the world’s top emitters. The numbers aren’t pretty. Global emission hit their highest level in 2022, the last year that data was provided. Emission levels over the last 20 years have increased 41%. Here’s the silver lining: over the last 10 years emissions have only increased by 8.2%. That represents a dramatic reduction in the pace of the increase. However, the reality is that we have a long way to go before a downward trend in the pace of increase morphs into an actual decline in emissions.
