Facts & figures

Facts and figures

(a) Distribution of regional per capita greenhouse gases emissions according to the population of different country groupings in 2004. (b) Distribution of regional GHG emissions per US$ of GDP over the GDP (purchasing power parity) of different country groupings in 2004. The percentages in the bars in both panels indicate a region’s share in global greenhouse gases emissions.

(a) Distribution of regional per capita greenhouse gases emissions according to the population of different country groupings in 2004. (b) Distribution of regional GHG emissions per US$ of GDP over the GDP (purchasing power parity) of different country groupings in 2004. The percentages in the bars in both panels indicate a region’s share in global greenhouse gases emissions.

(a) Distribution of regional per capita greenhouse gases emissions according to the population of different country groupings in 2004. (b) Distribution of regional GHG emissions per US$ of GDP over the GDP (purchasing power parity) of different country groupings in 2004. The percentages in the bars in both panels indicate a region’s share in global greenhouse gases emissions.

Global greenhouse gases emissions in the absence of additional climate policies: six illustrative SRES (The IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, 2000) marker scenarios (coloured lines) and 80th percentile range of recent scenarios published since SRES (post-SRES) (gray shaded area). Dashed lines show the full range of post-SRES scenarios. The emissions include CO2, CH4, N2O and F-gases.

      TEMPERATURE

      • Global surface temperature increased 0.74 (0.56 to 0.92) °C over the last century (1906-2005).
      • During 21st century, the temperature will likely increase further by 1.1-6.4 °C.
      • 11 of the last 12 years (1995-2006) rank among the 12 warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperature (since 1850).


        SEA LEVEL

        • Rising sea level is consistent with warming. Global average sea level has risen since 1961 at an average rate 1.8 mm/year and since 1993 at 3.1 mm/year. Until the end of 21st century, the global average sea level will rise by up to 0.6 metres.


          ICE COVERAGE

          • Annual average Arctic sea ice extent has shrunk by 2.7 % per decade, with largest decreases in summer of 7.4 % per decade.
          • The maximum areal extent of seasonally frozen ground has decreased by about 7% in the Northern Hemisphere since 1900, with decreases in spring of up to 15%. Temperatures at the top of the permafrost layer have generally increased since the 1980s in the Arctic by up to 3°C.


            GREENHOUSE GASES

            • Atmospheric concentration of CO2increased from the pre-industrial range of 275-285 ppm (parts per million) to 379 ppm in 2005.
            • The absolute growth rate of CO2increased substantially: the first 50 ppm increase above the pre-industrial level was reached in the 1970, after more than 200 years, whereas the second 50 ppm was achieved in about 30 years.
            • In the 10 years from 1995-2005, atmospheric CO2 increased by about 19 ppm. The highest average growth rate recorded for any decade since direct atmospheric CO2 measurment began in the 1950s.
            • Fossil fuel burning has produced approximately three-quarters of the increase in CO2 from human activity over the past 20 years. Most of the rest is due to land-use change, in particular deforestation
            • The global value of CH4 has risen from pre-industrial 715 ± 4 ppb (parts per billion) to 1774 ppb in 2005.
            • The atmospheric concentration of CO2 and CH4 in 2005 exceeds by far natural range over the last 650 000 years.


              CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS

              • Approximately 20 to 30% of plant and animal species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5 to 2.5°C.
              • About 145 milions of people (more than 100 millions of which live in Asia) will be directly affected by a 1 m  sea level rise.



              Source: IPCC