OPEC warns of emissions increase

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VIENNA, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Without efforts to expand carbon capture and storage technology, the world is expected to see a major increase in emissions, OPEC said from Vienna.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries released its annual report from Vienna that predicted a 43-percent increase in global carbon dioxide emissions by 2035.

"In the likely absence of an early and widespread deployment of carbon capture and storage, there will be an increase in global annual CO2 emissions," the cartel said in its 74-page report.

Climate experts said global greenhouse gas emissions must decline by 50 percent of their 1990 levels by 2050 to slow global climate change.

OPEC, meanwhile, said despite the push for clean and renewable sources of energy, fossil fuels will likely make up more than 80 percent of the global demand through 2035.

"The year turned out to be much stronger than anticipated in terms of oil consumption with world oil demand estimated to have risen by 2.1 million barrels per day, averaging 86.7 million bpd," OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem ElBadri said in a statement. "This was a consequence of a good recovery by the world economy."

The oil cartel added if a "strict" greenhouse gas regime were to come into force that attached additional costs to hydrocarbons, "then this would typically have a negative impact upon future demand and supply growth, and, in all probability, upon oil prices and costs."