A report released today by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) has found that emissions of carbon dioxide in 2015 will break the rapid emissions growth of the past decade.
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India was the fourth largest emitter overall in in 2014, with its emissions now matching those of China’s in 1990.
But Lee, attending the United Nations climate summit in Paris, said more work was needed, based on a number of years of observations, to establish a “clear understanding of the relationship between carbon emissions and economic growth”.
Still, the change is so small – 0.6 percent – that it may not be a decrease at all because of the margin of error. “In 2014, more than half of new energy needs in China were met from non-fossil fuel sources, such as hydro, nuclear, wind and solar power”.
The biggest single factor was a sharp decline in emissions in China, where carbon pollution fell by nearly 4 percent, reflecting a drop in coal consumption within the country, the report said. But if it is, “we may be in the early stages of revolutionary change” mostly thanks to renewable energy.
The study said that lower use of coalin China was a key reason for fall in in global Carbon dioxide emissions.
“Emissions aren’t zero, it’s just that they aren’t rising or declining much from 36 billion tons of Carbon dioxide per year from fossil fuels and cement”. “What we know from the INDCs is that global emissions are indeed projected to increase for the years to come, so we would need to see this low or no growth of emissions coupled with even strong commitments”.
Right now, world leaders are meeting in Paris at COP21 to address one of the most urgent challenges of our time: climate change. Scientists now believe that even if man-made emissions were to be dramatically cut – which is more than what most countries are currently offering – the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is unlikely to drop before global temperature rise breaches the internationally accepted red line of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The median estimate was “by 2025”, with 41 percent saying that climate change is already negatively affecting the economy.
The report, called Reaching Peak Emissions, brought together scientists from the University of East Anglia, Stanford University, Australia’s Commonwealth Centre and Industrial Research Organization and Norway’s Center for International Climate and Environmental Research.
CO2 emissions from the European Union have also declined by 2.4 per year in the past decade, and the United States by 1.4 percent, said the authors. China’s emissions are likely to rise again, but the Chinese government has pledged to hit the peak by 2030.
The draft, now running to 21 pages, consists of 26 articles covering different issues include emission reduction, adaptation, loss and damage, finance, technology and transparency of action and support.
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The country has embarked in developing cleaner energy alternatives in the last few years.
