NEW DELHI: Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels are projected to rise by 1.1% in 2025, reaching record high of 38.1 billion tonnes, over 2024 with the US heading for the highest percentage increase of 1.9% followed by India (1.4%), China and the EU (0.4% each) among the big four emitting countries, shows Global Carbon Budget – an annual, peer-reviewed report released on Thursday.It says the emissions in India and China are, however, growing more slowly from 2024 to 2025 than in recent years due to strong growth in renewable energy in both the countries.Growth rate from 2023 to 2024 was the highest at 4% for India and 0.7% for China whereas the EU and the US reported a decline of 2.6% and 0.6%, respectively, when the overall global emissions increased by 0.8%. In 2024, the largest absolute contributions to global fossil CO2 emissions were from China (32%), the US (13%), India (8%), and the EU (6%).On the positive side, total CO2 emissions – the sum of fossil and land-use change emissions – have grown more slowly in the past decade (0.3% per year), compared to the previous decade (1.9% per year).The 20th edition of the annual report, produced by an international team of more than 130 scientists under the Global Carbon Project, however, underlined that though decarbonisation of energy systems is progressing in many countries, this is not enough to offset the growth in global energy demand. As a result, the remaining carbon budget for keeping the world within 1.5 degree Celsius of warming (around 170 billion tonnes of CO2 ) will be exhausted in about four years if emissions continue at current levels.The remaining carbon budget is the amount of carbon dioxide that can still be emitted while keeping global warming within a certain temperature limit, such as 1.5 degree C above pre-industrial levels. The budget is rapidly diminishing as emissions from fossil fuels and land-use change continue to far outpace the rate at which carbon is removed from the atmosphere.“The remaining carbon budget for 1.5 degree C, 170 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, will be gone before 2030 at current emission rate. We estimate that climate change is now reducing the combined land and ocean sinks – a clear signal from Planet Earth that we need to dramatically reduce emissions,” said Pierre Friedlingstein of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, who led the study.According to the report, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is set to reach 425.7 ppm in 2025, 52% above pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels.The report says, “With no sign of the urgently needed decline of global emissions, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere – and the dangerous impacts of global warming – continue to increase.”“It is 10 years since the Paris Agreement was negotiated, and despite progress on many fronts, fossil CO2 emissions continue their relentless rise. Climate change and variability are also having a discernible effect on our natural climate sinks. It is clear that the countries need to lift their game. We now have strong evidence that clean technologies help reduce emissions while being cost effective compared to fossil alternatives,” said Glen Peters, senior researcher at the CICERO Center for International Climate Research.