CO2 emissions increased at slower rate last year: report
A decline in the use of fossil fuels for power generation and heating resulted in a reduction in the rate of carbon dioxide emissions in 2012, environmental assessment agency says
The world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased at a slower rate last year – 1.1 per cent compared to a 2.9 per cent annual increase over the past decade, a report said on Thursday.
This was despite a global economic growth rate of 3.5 per cent and was partly the result of a shift to hydroelectric power in China and shale gas in the United States, according to an analysis by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.
“This development signals a shift towards less fossil fuel-intensive activities, more use of renewable energy and increased energy saving,” said a statement.
The output still represented a new record 34.5 billion tonnes.
CO2 is the greenhouse gas chiefly responsible for man-made global warming – which the UN has said must be limited to 2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
Scientists have said this is possible only if CO2 emissions from 2000 to 2050 do not exceed 1.0 to 1.5 trillion tonnes – yet an estimated 466 billion tonnes have been emitted since 2000, according to data cited in the report.
In May this year, the concentration of climate-altering carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere exceeded 400 particles per million for the first time.