Paris: Worldwide carbon emissions are at their highest ever levels,stoking fears of a global temperature rise over the dangerous 2 Celsius threshold,the International Energy Agency announced on Monday. The world economys return to growth in 2010 coincided with a 1.6 gigatonne rise in carbon dioxide emissions,the highest ever recorded jump,the agency said. This significant increase in CO2 emissions and the locking in of future emissions due to infrastructure investments represent a serious setback to our hopes of limiting the global rise in temperature to no more than two two degrees, said IEA chief economist Fatih Birol said. Our latest estimates are another wake-up call, Birol said.The world has edged incredibly close to the level of emissions that should not be reached until 2020 if the two degrees target is to be attained, he added. Scientists believe that a temperature rise of more than 2 Celsius would represent dangerous climate change.The latest figures estimate that 30.6Gt of carbon dioxide were emitted in 2010,a 5% jump from the previous record year in 2008.AFP