Global fossil-fuel emissions may decline in 2015

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Despite the slowdown, China and coal were still the biggest carbon culprits in 2014, the study found.

NEW research shows the worldwide effort to slash carbon emissions is finally seeing some reward.

He said slower in growth in carbon emissions globally is a reason for cautious optimism, and nations’ emissions commitments ahead of the Paris climate negotiations are helpful, but “we need to go further”. Their study shows a almost 4 percent drop in emissions for the first eight months of the year when compared to the same time last year. “In this case, the 2015 projection ranges from a global decline in emissions of up to 1.5 per cent – or at the other end of the spectrum, a small rise of 0.5 per cent”.

Bloomberg analysts saw India and southeast Asia as key to curbing future growth in global emissions.

This article was written by Pep Canadell from CSIRO, and was originally published by The Conversation.

Prof Le Quere said: “It looks like the trajectory of global emissions might have changed temporarily”.

“That’s work that we at the Climate Institute have done, the ANU and Climate Works have done”.

However, it is quite unlikely that 2015 is the much-sought-after global peak in emissions which will lead us down the decarbonisation path required to stabilise the climate.

The current story of changing trends is largely told by China. Although India and southeast Asia now accounted for less than 20 percent of global emissions from the power sector, this would change dramatically over the next 25 years when the planned 200 giga watts of coal-fired power plants were built in the region.

Researchers said they do not believe carbon emissions have peaked for good, because growing economies still rely heavily on coal. In this case the actual trigger when China to reduce the consumption of electricity in coal-based.

“In 2014, more than half of new energy needs in China were met from renewable sources such as hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar power”, Le Quere added.

“This is not a random event”. Two years of apparently stable emissions do not make a trend.

The findings are a boost for United Nations-led climate talks in Paris, France, that aim to seal a global deal to fight climate change.

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

Per person emissions in Australia remain high but are dropping in line with recent years, the report found.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has previously stated that to keep warming under the 2C threshold, emissions in 2050 would need to be 40 to 70 per cent lower than in 2010.

GCIS President Jacob Zuma at the leaders’ session of the COP 21 in France.

The report said that for the second year running, Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption and cement production last year grew by only 0.6 per cent, a sharp drop from the 2.4 per cent annual growth for the decade before. Last year, the world pumped an estimated 35.9 billion metric tons (39.6 billion tons) into the air by burning coal, oil and gas, along with making cement.