Smoke stacks and exhaust pipes around the world are blasting greenhouse gas emissions to a new record annual high They should break 39 billion tons this year But theres also some good news a new study published Tuesday said The rate at which people are polluting the air may be leveling off In the West emissions contributing to global warming even dropped last year The United States pumped 37  less carbon dioxide into the air in 2012 than in the previous year Europe 18  less Globally greenhouse gases are being emitted at a slower rate this year than they were last year and in both years the climb in emissions was less intense than in the past decade taken as a whole said researchers at Britains East Anglia University Justices to review greenhouse gas regulation Drop in the bucket Its an improvement  but a drop in the bucket by global emission standards Greenhouse gases are blowing into the atmosphere at rates 61  higher than they were in 1990 the baseline year for the Kyoto Protocol The international agreement is designed to decrease emissions contributing to global warming by holding its signees to reduction goals The vast majority of the worlds nations have signed on to it The United States is not one of them China is But the worlds largest carbon emitter which wrested the dubious title from the United States in recent years pumped 59  more into the atmosphere in 2012 than in the previous year India contributed 77  more emissions in 2012 Path to catastrophe Not only must the increase stop the researchers said but industrialized nations must achieve a global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions Time is running out to stop the world from reaching a dreading global warming threshold The world is on a course with current emission levels to reach a rise in global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius or more and end up in the worst climate change scenario issued by the UN panel on climate change The study includes a carbon atlas which shows levels of pollution emitted by each nation and their development over the last 50 years In 2012 the largest contributors of greenhouse gases were China with 27  the United States with 14  and the European Union with 10  On an individual basis China and the EU were at the same level with 77 tons of carbon gas emitted per person and year Americans still polluted the most by far with more than 17 tons of carbon gas emitted per person in 2012 The nuclear renaissanceWhat went wrong  