Greenhouse gas emissions are at record high study finds

According to a study conducted by the Global Carbon Project initiative and published in the Natural Geoscience Journal, in 2013 global greenhouse gas emissions rose by 2.3%, reaching a record high.

The findings of the study are revelations of how off track the world is in its efforts to combat global climate change, The Guardian reported.

In the United States greenhouse emissions rose by 2.9% which is higher than the global average of 2.3%.

The publishing of the article coincided with the biggest-ever global climate change march in history which took place in more than 150 countries with the participation of hundreds of thousands demanding appropriate and immediate action.

The demonstrators urged world leaders who are to have a meeting on the issue at the United Nations' emergency Climate Change Summit in New York today, to start taking action instead of just talking.

Greenhouse gas emissions, also known as carbon emissions, are the primary human activity that causes global climate change, more specifically the global warming.

These gases are released mostly by industrial activities and cause a phenomenon called the "greenhouse effect," meaning that they increase the temperature. The rise in temperature then causes arctic ice and glaciers to melt, which causes sea levels to rise and brings about many other changes in the climate.

Experts in the field say that climate change will cause disasters and other effects. many of those will be irreversible. As the situation gets worse with increasingly extreme weather, there there will be more floods in many areas, while some others will have to face droughts.

Greenhouse emissions control is the first line of defense against global climate change.

Exceeding the target amount of emissions can be interpreted as getting close to the catastrophic effects of climate change sooner than it is planned.

A professor of carbon management at the University of Edinburgh Dave Reay, when asked about his opinion by the Guardian, said " If this were a bank statement it would say our credit is running out. We've already burned through two-thirds of our global carbon allowance and avoiding a shrinking global carbon allowance can be shared equitably between more than 7 billion people and where the differences between rich and poor are so immense."