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''Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing world leaders. Warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder, as an increasing body of science points to rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of human-related greenhouse gases — produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and forests.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide were at a record high in 2011 and were likely to take a similar jump in 2012, scientists reported in early December 2012 — the latest indication that efforts to limit such emissions are failing.

Over all, global emissions jumped 3 percent in 2011 and are expected to jump another 2.6 percent in 2012, researchers reported.

The new figures show that emissions are falling, slowly, in some of thttp://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2007/04/02/science/earth/20070403_CLIM_FEATURE.html?ref=globalwarminghe most advanced countries, including the United States. That apparently reflects a combination of economic weakness, the transfer of some manufacturing to developing countries and conscious efforts to limit emissions, like the renewable power targets that many American states have set. The boom in the natural gas supply from hydraulic fracturing is also a factor, since natural gas is supplanting coal at many power stations, leading to lower emissions.

But the decline of emissions in the developed countries is more than matched by continued growth in developing countries like China and India, the new figures show. Coal, the dirtiest and most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is growinghttp://nytimes.feedroom.com/?fr_story=63de3cfd47f64ab29125530ba78c51cfb038e9c7&ref=globalwarming fastest, with coal-related emissions leaping more than 5 percent in 2011, compared with the previous year.

Emissions continue to grow so rapidly that an international goal of limiting the ultimate warming of the planet to 3.6 degrees, established three years ago, is on the verge of becoming unattainable, said researchers affiliated with the Global Carbon Project, a network of scientists that tracks emissions.

Yet nations around the world, despite a formal treaty pledging to limit warming — and 20 years of negotiations aimed at putting it into effect — have shown little appetite for the kinds of controls required to accomplish that goal.

For almost two decades, the United Nations has sponsored annual global talks, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, an international treaty signed nearly 200 countries to cooperatively discuss global climate change and its impact. The conferences operate on the principle of consensus, meaning that any of the participating nations can hold up an agreement.

The conflicts and controversies discussed are monotonously familiar: the differing obligations of industrialized and developing nations, the question of who will pay to help poor nations adapt, the urgency of protecting tropical forests and thehttp://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/09/us/subsidies-for-a-global-warming-gas.html?ref=globalwarming need to rapidly develop and deploy clean energy technology.

Doha Round of Talks

In December 2012, delegates from 190 countries around the http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/10/01/science/20071002_ARCTIC_GRAPHIC.html?ref=globalwarmingworld met in Doha, Qatar, for the annual United Nations forum on climate change. The agenda was modest, after disappointing sessions in previous years, and so was the outcome. The delegates agreed to extend the increasingly ineffective Kyoto Protocol a few years and to commit to more ambitious — but unspecified — actions to reduce emissions of climate-altering gases.

Wealthy nations put off for a year resolution of the dispute over providing billions of dollars in aid to countries most heavily affected by climate change. Industrial nations have pledged to secure $100 billion a year by 2020 in public and private financing to help poor countries cope with climate change, but have been vague about what they plan to do before then.

Only a handful of countries, not including the United States, have made concrete financial pledges for adaptation aid over the next few years.

The participants noted with “grave concern” the widening gap between what countries have promised to do to reduce emissions and the growing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They declared it unlikely that on the current path the world would be able to keep global temperatures from rising more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial times, a central goal of the United Nations process.

But the group left for future years any plan for addressing the mismatch between goals and reality, merely stating an intention to “identify and explore in 2013 options for a range of actions to close the pre-2020 ambition gap.” The plan to be adopted by 2020 would be fundamentally different from Kyoto, as it would require action by all nations, not just rich countries — leaving behind a longstanding division of nations into industrialized perpetrators and developing-world victims.

A Non-Issue in Presidential Campaign

During the 2012 presidential campaign, neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger, spoke much about climate change, despite the fact that both men agree that the world is warming and that humans are at least partly to blame. None of the moderators of the four general-election debates asked about climate change, nor did any of the candidates broach the topic.

Throughout the campaign, Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney have seemed most intent on trying to outdo each other as lovers of coal, oil and natural gas — the very fuels most responsible for rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Mr. Obama has supported broad climate change legislation, financed extensive clean energy projects and pushed new regulations to reduce global warming emissions from cars and power plants. But neither he nor Mr. Romney laid out during the campaign a legislative or regulatory program to address the fundamental questions arising from one of the most vexing economic, environmental, political and humanitarian issues to face the planet.

Background

Scientists learned long ago that the earth’s climate has powerfully shaped the history of the human species — biologically, culturally and geographically. But only in the last few decades has research revealed that humans can be a powerful influence on the climate, as well.

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Scientists are unnerved by this summer?s massive polar ice melt, its implications and their ability to predict it.

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ARTICLES ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING Newest First | Oldest First Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Next >> Exploring a Proposed Carbon Diet for American Power Plants

A proposal for getting the carbon out of American power plants afford ably and under existing laws. December 19, 2012 MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING AND: Natural Resources Defense Council, Electric Light and Power, Clean Air Act, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Global Warming, Carbon Dioxide, Regulation and Deregulation of Industry

Scientists See Big Impacts on U.S. Ecosystems from Global Warming By ANDREW C. REV KIN

From fisheries to forests, American ecosystems are feeling the effect of human-driven climate change, with more to come. December 19, 2012 MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING AND: United States Geological Survey, Global Warming, Forests and Forestry, Parks and Other Recreation Areas, Fish and Other Marine Life, United States

Obama Facing Critical Choice After Shooting Obama Facing Critical Choice After Shooting By PETER BAKER

Hurricane Sandy, last month’s Latino turnout for Democrats and now the Newtown, Conn., shootings have presented President Obama with many decisions — and openings to make new arguments. December 19, 2012, Wednesday MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING AND: Obama, Barack, United States Politics and Government, United States Economy, Hurricane Sandy (2012), Global Warming, Newtown, Conn, Shooting (2012), Illegal Immigrants, Gun Control

Energy Agency Sees Global Coal Boom Unabated, Europe's Binge Temporary By ANDREW C. REV KIN

The global coal surge continues, still led by emerging giants India and China. December 18, 2012 MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING AND: International Energy Agency, Energy and Power, Coal, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Global Warming, Air Pollution

An Odometer Moment on a Warming Planet By JUSTIN GILLIES

It's 333 and counting: that's how many consecutive months global temperatures have topped the 20th-century average. December 17, 2012 MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING AND: Climate Central, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, World Meteorological Organization, Temperature, Records and Achievements, Global Warming

What's Your Meme? Changing the Climate Change Conversation By RACHEL NUWER

What's the counterpoint to "Drill, baby, drill"? In the emerging field of meme science, researchers try to figure out what language and ideas resonate when it comes to the warming of the planet. December 17, 2012 MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING AND: Psychological Science, Dawkins, Richard, Social Networking (Internet), Research, Global Warming, United States

Doha: Weirdly Tame and Dispirited By ROBERT B. SEMPLE JR

At the annual climate change negotiations there were no people in polar bear suits, and there was no solid agreement. December 14, 2012 MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING AND: Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Global Warming, Doha (Qatar)

A Contrarian Spin on the Next Big Climate Report By JUSTIN GILLIES

Extracting one sentence from a draft report, a climate skeptic asserts that an international body has decided that cosmic rays are a major cause of global warming. But he omits the report's surrounding context, which discredits the cosmic ray theory. December 14, 2012 MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING AND: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, United Nations, Caldera, Ken, Earth, Blogs and Blogging (Internet), Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Global Warming, Academic and Scientific Journals, Sun

Leak of Climate Panel Drafts Speaks to Need for New Process By ANDREW C. REV KIN

A leaked report raises questions about the merits of closed deliberations over climate science in an era of enforced transparency. December 13, 2012 MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING AND: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Wiki leaks, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Global Warming

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