In Historic Turn, CO2 Emissions Flatline In 2014, Even As Global Economy Grows

mdsolar sends this report from Forbes:A key stumbling block in the effort to combat global warming has been the intimate link between greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth. When times are good and industries are thriving, global energy use traditionally increases and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions also go up. Only when economies stumble and businesses shutteras during the most recent financial crisisdoes energy use typically decline, in turn bringing down planet-warming emissions. But for the first time in nearly half a century, that synchrony between economic growth and energy-related emissions seems to have been broken, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, prompting its chief economist to wonder if an important new pivot point has been reachedone that decouples economic vigor and carbon pollution. The IEA pegged carbon dioxide emissions for 2014 at 32.3 billion metric tonsessentially the same volume as 2013, even as the global economy grew at a rate of about 3 percent. Whether the disconnect is a mere fluke or a true harbinger of a paradigm shift is impossible to know. The IEA suggested that decreasing use of coal in Chinaand upticks in renewable electricity generation there using solar, wind and hydropowercould have contributed to the reversal. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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