Environmental Leader

Although scientists thought an economic downturn would slow energy use, carbon dioxide emissions climbed 3 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the Global Carbon Project’s latest research, AP reports.

U.S. emissions rose nearly two percent in 2007, after declining the previous year. The U.S. produced 1.75 billion tons of carbon.

The pollution leader was China, followed by the U.S. – it was large increases in China, India and other developing countries that spurred the growth of carbon dioxide pollution to a record high of 9.34 billion tons of carbon. China’s added emissions accounted for more than half of the worldwide increase. China passed the United States as the No. 1 carbon dioxide polluter in 2006.

What is “kind of scary” is that the worldwide emissions growth is beyond the highest growth in fossil fuel predicted just two years ago by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said Ben Santer, an atmospheric scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab.