CO2 emissions continue, but at a slowing pace
A report by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency says that global carbon emissions are increasing annually, but of late these have been at a slower rate...
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Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil-fuel combustion and other smaller industrial sources have been increasing in recent years, but the rate of increase slowed down in 2012 in comparison to previous years. The PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency’s latest report on global CO2 emissions, Trends in Global CO2 Emissions, noted that actual global emissions increased by 1.4% over 2011, reaching a total of 34.5 billion tonnes in 2012. This annual increase was reduced to 1.1% after a correction for the leap year 2012, compared with an average increase of 2.9% since 2000.
The six largest emitting countries/regions in 2012 were China (29%), the United States (US) (15%), the European Union (11%), India (6%), the Russian Federation (5%), and Japan (4%), with the top 3 emitting countries accounting for 55% of total global emissions. Of the top 3 emitting nations, CO2 emissions in China increased by 3%, down from a previous increase of 10%. China’s increased hydropower capacity and output had a significant mitigating effect of about 1.5 percentage points on its CO2 emissions in 2012.
In the US, the shift from coal to natural gas in power generation that caused a 12% reduction in coal consumption, together with increased renewable energy production, in particular wind and bioenergy, were the main drivers of the 4% drop in CO2 emissions. In Europe, actual CO2 emissions declined due to the decrease in primary energy consumption of oil and gas during the economic recession in 2012.
The report highlighted that the rate of global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the main cause of human-induced global warming – was slowing down for various reasons, including increased usage of renewable energy. However, the report also noted that continued technological developments are required to sustain renewable energy sources because of additional uncertainty. This was due to possible major changes in various areas such as:
- Rising production of shale gas may affect natural gas prices worldwide
- Expansion of intercontinental trade in liquid natural gas (LNG) through increased transport and storage capacity may influence natural gas markets
- Relative prices of gas and coal may cause rapid changes in the fuel mix used by utilities for power generation as observed in the US and some European countries The ability of China to smoothly transition towards a more service-based economy
The full report can be downloaded here.
By : EMA