Cities in Asia and the United States emit the most heat-trapping gases that fuel climate change, with Shanghai the most polluting, according to new data combining observations and artificial intelligence.

Nations at UN climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan are trying to set new targets to reduce these emissions and to determine how much rich countries will pay to help the world in this task. The data comes as climate officials and activists grow increasingly frustrated with what they see as the failure of negotiations – and the world – to tackle fossil fuels that contribute to global warming and the countries and companies that promote them.

Seven states or provinces emit more than 1 billion tons of greenhouse gases, all in China except Texas, which ranks sixth, according to new data from an organization co-founded by former American Vice President Al Gore and published Friday during COP29. .

Using satellite and ground observations, supplemented by artificial intelligence to fill in the gaps, Climate Trace sought to quantify carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen oxide, as well as other traditional air pollutants worldwide, including for the first time in more than 9,000 urban areas. areas.

Earth’s total pollution from carbon dioxide and methane increased by 0.7% to 61.2 billion tonnes, with the short-lived but very potent methane increasing by 0.2%. The numbers are higher than other data sets “because we have very comprehensive coverage and we’ve seen more emissions in more sectors than is generally available,” said Gavin McCormick, co-founder of Climate Trace.

Many large cities emit much more than some countries

Shanghai’s 256 million tons of greenhouse gases tops all cities and surpassed those of the countries of Colombia or Norway. Tokyo’s 250 million tons would rank in the top 40 nations if it were a country, while New York’s 160 million tons and Houston’s 150 million tons would rank in the top 50 national emissions. Seoul, South Korea, ranks fifth among cities with 142 million tonnes.

“One of the sites in the Permian Basin in Texas is by far the most polluting site in the world,” Gore said. “Maybe this shouldn’t have surprised me, but I think about how dirty some of these sites are in Russia, China, etc. But the Permian Basin puts them all in the shade.

China, India, Iran, Indonesia and Russia recorded the largest increases in emissions between 2022 and 2023, while Venezuela, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States where pollution has decreased the most.

The dataset – managed by scientists and analysts from various groups – also looked at traditional pollutants such as carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and other related chemicals looks dirty. Burning fossil fuels releases both types of pollution, Gore said.

This “represents the greatest health threat facing humanity,” Gore said.

Climate negotiations clash with fossil fuel interests

Gore criticized the hosting of climate talks, called COPs, by Azerbaijan, an oil-rich country and site of the world’s first oil wells, and by the United Arab Emirates last year.

“It is unfortunate that the fossil fuel industry and petrostates have taken control of the COP process to an unhealthy degree,” Gore said. “Next year in Brazil we will see a change in this trend. But, you know, it’s not good for the global community to give so much control to the world’s number one polluting industry over the whole process.

President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for more to be done climate change and has sought to slow deforestation since returning for a third presidential term. But Brazil produced more oil last year than Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

On Friday, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former UN climate chief Christina Figueres and leading climate scientists released a letter calling for “an urgent overhaul” of climate negotiations.

The letter states that “the global climate process has been captured and is no longer fit for purpose” in response to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s comments that oil and gas are a “gift from the gods.”

The executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, Inger Andresen, said she understood much of the frustration over the letter calling for massive reform of the negotiating process, but said their desire to reduce the broadcasts fit well with those of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. a constant incentive.

One of the main benefits of the U.N. climate negotiation process is that it is the only place where victimized small island nations have an equal seat at the table, Andersen told The Associated Press. But the process has its limits because “the rules of the game are set by the member states,” she explained.

An analysis by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition indicated Friday that the official list of negotiating participants included at least 1,770 fossil fuel lobbyists.

In a press conference with the president of the small island nations, Cedric Schuster, said the negotiating bloc felt the need to remind everyone of the importance of the negotiations.

“We are here to defend the Paris agreement,” Schuster said, referring to the 2015 climate agreement aimed at limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). “We fear that countries are forgetting that protecting the world’s most vulnerable is at the heart of this framework. »

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