Global carbon dioxide emissions increased two percent in 2008, from 30.9 billion metric tons to 31.5 billion metric tons, according to The International Economic Platform for Renewable Energies (Internationales Wirtschaftsforum Regenerative Energien (IWR)).
Issuing a new report, IWR, the German renewable energy industry institute, on Aug. 10 announced the information, which marks the tenth consecutive time that record levels have been reached, it said.
The report provides CO2-emission ranking by country as well as the necessary levels of investment for each country. The top ten countries in order are China, United States, Russia, India, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Canada, Great Britain, and Iran.
IWR notes that more action is necessary despite the worldwide investment of more than 120 billion euros in renewable energy.
"The level of direct investment in renewable energy plants worldwide needs to at least quadruple to approximately 500 billion euros each year to slow down the increasing demand for fossil fuels and stabilize global CO2 emissions," IWR Director Dr. Norbert Allnoch said.
