5 Big Trends That Increased Earth’s Carbon Pollution

The world’s carbon pollution from fossil fuels rose this year, reaching a record high, according to new research published today. This is the third year in a row that carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil fuels have increased.

“Obviously it’s a bad thing,” Rob Jackson, an Earth-science professor at Stanford University who led the new research, told me. “It’s just one more year where we churn along emitting record levels of carbon-dioxide pollution. The years and decades are slipping by.”

The record high has come even as renewables have seen rapid growth, especially in America. The United States is now the world’s second-largest market for solar energy, slightly edging out India, according to new data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Both are about half the size of China,” Jenny Chase, its head solar analyst, told me.

The new estimate of 2019’s carbon emissions was, , and .