Record carbon emissions

Figures from the International Energy Agency reveal 2010 was a record year for energy-related CO2 emissions.

A record 30.6 gigatonnes were emitted last year, a five per cent jump from the previous record year of 2008.

Forty per cent of global emissions but only 25% of emissions growth came from developed countries last year.

But on a per capita basis developed countries collectively emitted 10 tonnes, compared with 5.8 tonnes for China and 1.5 tonnes for India.

Professor Lord Stern, author of the 2006 Stern review on the economics of climate change, warned that Britain may have to invest up to two per cent of GDP in climate change technologies as a result of worsening scientific projections.

Countries at Cancun last December agreed to take steps to limit climate change to just 2C by 2100, but Lord Stern warned that the figures showed the world was falling behind.