Globally, 2015 emissions were reduced by 0.6 percent, matching 2013 levels. Previously, carbon emissions only dropped in a period of economic slowdown (such as after the 2008 financial crisis), yet this notable decrease has occurred during a period of global economic growth. However, if India could significantly reduce its emissions, it could potentially match the EU’s emissions before 2020, said lead author Rob Jackson, a professor at Stanford University.
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He said it shows emissions can stop increasing even as the economy continues to grow.
In addition to China, many emerging economies in the global South are based on coal, and emissions are likely to spike in the coming years. We are still emitting massive amounts of Carbon dioxide annually – around 36 billion tonnes from fossil fuels and industry alone.
Ministers from around the world arrived in Paris on Monday for the second week of negotiations on a potential climate deal, which is hoped to be forged by 196 parties by the end of the week.
“There is the shifting structure of the economy and the shifting structure of energy consumption, but it’s also the low point in an economic cycle”, Zou Ji, a deputy director general of China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, said in an interview. While it is encouraging that the carbon emissions appear to have fallen, it will be several more years before this announcement is put into true perspective. We’ve at least made some progress on other wedges, like reducing deforestation, but others-like nuclear energy and the capture and storage of carbon emissions-have pretty much gone nowhere.
Fewer than one in four of the companies surveyed said their research and development (R&D) departments have sufficient expertise to respond to climate change, while almost two thirds dedicate 5 per cent or less of their R&D budget to decarbonisation.
The research reveals that emissions could decline by 0.6 per cent this year.
The researchers conclude, “Whether the unexpectedly low growth rates in Carbon dioxide emissions observed in 2014 and 2015 are a first sign of an approaching global peak in emissions is unclear”.
China, as the largest emitter, has no interest in capping emissions until around 2030, its pledge for the Paris climate conference. In India, for example, carbon emissions increased by a noticeable 7.8 percent in 2014. Scientists warn that without substantial cuts in emissions, the planet will likely experience much higher temperature increases that could endanger humans and natural ecosystems for centuries to come. “We have many scientific tools in our toolbox, and bringing them together is a powerful approach to asking questions and to solving problems”.
The average annual growth in emissions over the last 15 years has been about 2 or 3 percent, the head of the study said in a statement. Writing in the journal Nature Climate Science, the team also notes that the emissions from Western Europe and the US have also flattened out.
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Other organizations have said that world carbon emissions growth stalled past year, after decades of gains.
