We recently covered an analysis of global emissions of greenhouse gases in 2014 showing an encouraging slowdown in the growth of those emissions.
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According to the study done by the University of East Anglia of Britain and the Global Carbon Project, the rate of global carbon emissions has increased by only 0.6 percent.
Other survey questions focused on how climate change will affect specific sectors of the USA economy; how it will alter the economic growth rate; how states can most efficiently comply with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan; and other topics. Scientists believe that if these man made carbon emissions will be cut dramatically, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere will drop even before temperatures go beyond the 2 degrees Celsius tipping point. Also, there might not be sufficient nitrogen and phosphorus in the environment to enable added carbon dioxide to be absorbed by plants.
The report from the Global Carbon Project led by a Stanford University researcher identified China as the world’s top carbon dioxide emitter in 2014. India’s reliance on coal has been increasing steadily for the past five years, the report said. “CO2 will keep marching upwards”. Now fossil fuels and industry emissions alone amount to 35 billion tonnes. “Our climate worries remain very much intact”. “It is unlikely that emissions have peaked for good”.
“For these trends to continue, we would need to see altered production and consumption patterns and strong implementation of policies to reduce emissions”, Kelly Levin, senior associate with World Resource Institute’s major emerging economies objective, told GreenBiz.
The new study, done by The Global Carbon Project, is a result of tracking greenhouse gas emissions in more than a decade.
Other organizations have said that world carbon emissions growth stalled past year, after decades of gains.
“This year we expect total emissions to flatten or drop slightly, despite strong growth in gross domestic product worldwide”, he added.
“Reaching zero emissions will require long-term commitments from countries attending the climate meeting in Paris this week and beyond”, Jackson said.
Scientists attributed the decline to the slowing of China’s economy.
The 2009 Copenhagen Accord tried to remedy this with developed countries pledging to mobilize $100 billion per year of new aid by 2020 – although funding at this scale is proving to be hard.
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The drop is evidence of changing behavior as countries invest more in renewable energy. While advocates of greener living have long touted the economic benefits of replacing outdated fossil fuels with eco-friendly upgrades, the undeniable truth was that higher global emissions were linked to economic growth.
