Global CO2 emissions growth almost stalled in 2014, slowing to only 0.5% growth compared to 2013, according to new figures released this week.
A new report published by PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC) showed that not only did global CO2 emissions growth slow to only 0.5% in 2014 compared to the year previous, but that the world’s economy grew 3% during the same period, showing again the partial decoupling we have been seeing over the past 18 months of emissions and economic growth.
This continues the trend we have seen over the past few years, and the report notes that it follows on from a decade of annual increases of 4%, followed by two years (2012 and 2013) of slowing to about 1% growth. This compares well with the global average growth rate over the 1980-2002 period of 1.2%.
Unsurprisingly, when looking at individual players, China and the US both saw their emissions increase by 0.9%, and India’s emissions grew by 7.8%. At the same time, however, the European Union saw “unprecedented” decrease in emissions of 5.4%. These four “countries” accounted for 61% of total global emissions, and were the top four emitters as well (China, 30%; the United States, 15%; the European Union, 10%; and India, 6.5%).
China might have remained the largest emitter on the planet, but it was the United States that topped per capita emissions, sitting twice as high as those of both China and the European Union. In fact, the CO2 emissions growth slowdown of the past three years can mostly be explained by changes in China’s economy and its associated energy consumption — however the report’s authors are unsure whether this slowdown also reflects structural changes in the wider global economy.
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