The U.S., China and India led the world in pushing carbon pollution in the atmosphere to an all-time high last year, scientists announced in a series of articles published Sunday in the scientific journals Nature Geoscience and Nature Climate Change.
The news comes as leaders from around the world gather in New York this week to discuss how to reduce heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and begin the push toward a final global climate agreement next year.
The world pumped an estimated 39.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air last year, the papers released Sunday note, primarily by burning coal, oil and gas. That is 778 million tons, or 2.3 percent more, than the previous year.
The scientists forecast that emissions will continue to increase, adding that the world in about 30 years will warm by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit from now. In 2009, world leaders called that level dangerous and pledged not to reach it.
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