Global CO2 emissions to stall in 2015, study says

Why could “loss and damage” become a polarizing issue?

And second, if fossil fuel emissions were held constant for the next 10 years and then reduced linearly to a level equal to 20 per cent of 2014 emissions by 2050 before further linear reduction to zero by 2100, WHRC said in a statement accompanying the study.

This good news comes with a major caveat – while global carbon emissions have slowed, they are still spewing at alarmingly high overall rates.

Still, there is some hope that emissions growth in coming years will be slower than in the last decade, Peters and other experts said, especially as countries start acting on climate pledges they have made this year.

In what could lift the mood of negotiators at the Paris climate summit, scientists have found that carbon emissions are set to decline this year.

Canadell said that despite global economic growth in 2015, worldwide emission from fossil fuels is expected to decline by 0.6 percent, the first decline since the global financial crisis in 2008.

Carbon emissions need to fall.

Pep Canadell receives funding from the Australian government.

The current story of changing trends is largely told by China. This slowed to 1.2 per cent in 2014, and this year emissions are expected to extraordinarily fall by almost four per cent. “This is because energy needs for growing economies still rely primarily on coal, and emissions decreases in some industrial countries are still modest at best”.

China burns an enormous amount of coal – creating an enormous amount of CO2.

“This is not a random event”.

According to climate scientist Kevin Trenberth from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, the important thing here is to completely stop emissions to zero emissions and not just lower the rate of growing carbon emissions globally.

This is the first two-year period in a multi-decade record where the global economy shows clear signs of decoupling from fossil fuel emissions.

The “surprising” findings were published as 195 nations entered the final phase of UN talks in Paris for an accord to roll back heat-trapping carbon emissions, blamed for unsafe climate change.

Steady declines are being seen around the world – including Australia – but not fast enough.

That encouraging news came as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop joined her counterparts from other nations in Paris to work towards a new global emissions deal.

“This keeps 2C in play”, he added.

Since 2000, global emissions have risen at an average annual pace of 2.4 percent, as countries such as India and China increase their reliance on coal and fossil fuels to boost growth.

The largest emitter was China, with 9.7 billion tonnes, followed by United States of America (5.6), the European Union (3.4) and India (2.6), together accounting for nearly 60% of global emissions. Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere can dictate climate change and these will grow continuously when emissions are positive.

“They’re responsible for seven per cent of Carbon dioxide emissions but this level is the same as where China was in 1990”, he said.