Record fall in carbon emissions

I found this very interesting article on the UN Climate Change Website.

It confirms my assumption that the credit crunch has been a great help in reducing carbon emissions, but also shows that there is the beginning of an effect from governmental efforts.

Here is the rest of the article.

Gary

The world now has a “unique opportunity” to move away from growth fueled by oil and coal, concludes a study from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that will be part of the organization’s annual World Energy Outlook presented in November.

The decline in carbon emissions exceeds the plunge that followed the oil crisis in 1981, when the world economy suffered a recession. In fact, the fall this year is the steepest for 40 years. The decline is mainly caused by falling industrial activity, but also government policies to reduce emissions have had significant impact. Three initiatives had particular effect: Europe’s target to cut emissions by 20 percent in 2020 compared to 1990; US car emission standards; and China’s energy efficiency policies. At the same time recession brought many plans for new coal-fired power stations at halt.

Fatih Birol, chief IEA economist, says the fall is “surprising” and will make it “less difficult” to achieve the reductions that are needed to avoid global warming.

“We have a new situation, with the changes in energy demand and the postponement of many energy investments,” he says to Financial Times. “But this only has meaning if we can make use of this unique window of opportunity. [That means] a deal in Copenhagen,” he says to Financial Times.

The study will be published in the beginning of October.