This Is A First – Have We Hit The Point Where Emissions Are Going To Start To Decline?
Energy related carbon dioxide emissions did not increase globally in 2014.
This report comes from the International Energy Agency and they are saying that this is the very first time in 40 years that emissions of green house gasses have not increased at the same time as world economies are still increasing.
China is pushing to replace coal with clean energy sources.
The IEA attributes this remarkable occurrence to “changing patterns of energy consumption in China and OECD countries.” As we reported last month, China cut its coal consumption 2.9 percent in 2014, the first drop this century. China is aggressively embracing energy efficiency, expanding clean energy, and shuttering the dirtiest power plants to meet its planned 2020 (or sooner) peak in coal use. As a result, Chinese CO2 emissions dropped 1 percent in 2014 even as their economy grew by 7.4 percent.
At the same time, the Financial Times points out “In the past five years, OECD countries’ economies grew nearly 7 percent while their emissions fell 4 percent, the IEA has found.” A big part of that is the United States, where fuel economy standards have reversed oil consumption trends — and renewable energy, efficiency, and natural gas have cut U.S. coal consumption.
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