"Global emissions of carbon dioxide from the energy sector stalled in 2014, marking
the first time in 40 years in which there was a halt or reduction in emissions of the greenhouse gas that was not tied to an economic downturn," the International Energy Agency reported today in
press release.
The 2014 global emissions of carbon dioxide remained at 32.3 gigatons, unchanged from 2013.
"This gives me even more hope that humankind will be able to work together to combat climate change, the most important threat facing us today," IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol said.
The global economy grew 3 percent in 2014, The Financial Times reported. This past year's halt to growing carbon dioxide emissions came about because of global efforts. But Birol warned that governments must strengthen these policies in the Paris agreement if the world is to avoid a potentially dangerous 2C [3.6 degrees Fahrenheit] of warming.
Otherwise, the halt in emissions growth could prove just “a temporary bright point in an otherwise alarming trend”, he said.
Talks toward reaching a new international agreement on climate change by December 2015 in Paris continue. Earlier this week, Secretary of State John Kerry
pushed for aggressive action to reduce climate changing emissions.
"We have nine short months to come together around the kind of agreement that will put us on the right path," Kerry said.
"Gambling with the future of Earth itself when we know full well what the outcome would be is beyond reckless; it is just plain immoral, and it is a risk that no one should take," Kerry said.
"And we need to face reality: There is no Planet B."
China burned less coal last year as the country shifted toward renewable energy sources. This reduced their carbon dioxide emissions and helped halt, for now, the global growth in carbon dioxide emissions. China's "total carbon emissions... dropped 2 percent in 2014 compared with the previous year, the first drop since 2001", according to Bloomberg News, which based
their estimate on data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
China's demand for coal is slowing; consumption fell 2.9 percent last year. China invested $89.5 billion in renewable energy last year, which accounted for "one out of every three dollars spent on clean energy in the world," Bloomberg News added.
This trend runs counter to the climatecide policies being advanced by some coal mining states in the United States. Last week, Wyoming lawmakers approved spending to help finance the construction of new coal ports in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. The state is stepping in to provide a funding source because private projects are having "trouble with financing."
Fortunately, these dirty energy dinosaurs are being opposed. Increased energy efficiency in the U.S. is also helping reduce energy consumption and in turn, reduce emissions, The Washington Post reported. The trend with U.S. energy consumption is declining "on a both per capita basis and in relation to GDP" thanks to more efficient electrical use in the home. Also, California is "pricing carbon and thus using economic forces to make it more costly to release into the atmosphere."
So, while unchanged level of carbon dioxide emissions for last year is encouraging news, "this is no time for complacency – and certainly not the time to use this positive news as an excuse to stall further action," IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said.
Now there is proof that a greening economy is also a growing economy. Or, as Sec. Kerry said this past week: "Clean energy is not only a solution to climate change. Guess what? It's also one of the greatest economic opportunities of all time."