Environmental scientists around the world are unhappy that after several years of campaign and awareness creation, global emission of heat-trapping carbon dioxide experienced its largest jump in seven years between 2017 and 2018.

According to three studies released on Wednesday from the Global Carbon Project (GCP), world carbon dioxide emissions are estimated to have risen 2.7 per cent from 2017 to 2018.

The GCP, an international scientific collaboration of academics, governments and industry that tracks greenhouse gas emissions  made the revelation during the ongoing negotiations to put the 2015 Paris climate accord into effect.

“This is terrible news. Every year that we delay serious climate action, the Paris goals become difficult to meet,” Andrew Jones, a co-director of Climate Interactive, which models greenhouse gas emissions and temperatures said.

The studies estimated that this year, the world would spew 37.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, up from 36.2 billion metric tons recorded in 2017, with the margin of error about one percentage point on either side.

The Global Carbon Project uses government and industry reports to come up with final emission figures for 2017 and projections for 2018 based on the four biggest polluters– China, the United States, India and the European Union (EU).