Judging by the results of the study, no agreement and plan of the world community yields results. According to the Global Carbon Project, the global burning of coal, oil and natural gas has released 1.7 percent more greenhouse gases into the air this year than last year.

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• In the United States, emissions rose 1.5 percent.
• In China, carbon pollution decreased by 0.9% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
• Both facts contradict long-term trends seen before: Up until this year, emissions in the US have been steadily falling, while those in China have been rising.

Either way, it’s a response to the pandemic and the energy crisis, according to Pierre Friedlingstein, the study’s lead author of the University of Exeter. The main reason for the reduction in emissions in China was, most likely, isolation due to the new variant of COVID-19 – people began to travel less by car and plane.

Overall, global carbon pollution is still increasing, though not as rapidly as 10 or 15 years ago, the researchers say. In 2022, the world will emit 36.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air.

• Pollution from coal increased by 1% compared to last year, pollution from oil decreased by 2% and pollution from natural gas decreased by 0.2%.
• About 40% of carbon dioxide comes from burning coal, 33% from oil and 22% from natural gas.