Global CO2 Emissions Slowed Down in Recent Years

Scientists offer some great news just days before the Paris Climate Change Summit, as they declare that after ten years of rapid growth, global CO2 emissions slowed down in recent years.

After a decade in which CO2 emissions have been growing at an alarming rate, finally, two days before the Paris Climate Change Summit that is meant to address this exact subject, researchers that have been measuring the aforementioned emissions claim that the CO2 levels have gone down in the past three years.

With the average annual growth of the CO2 emissions measuring at 4 percent in the past decade, scientists were thrilled to discover that in the past two years this growth has slowed down significantly.

With 2012 measuring a 0.8% growth, 2013 going slightly higher with 1.5 percent, and finally 2014 reaching an all-time (well, since the measuring began, anyway) low of 0.5%, the world’s economy went up by 3% due to the decreased CO2 emissions.

However, this is nowhere near the end of the battle with global warming, or climate change, since the data only refers to the *increase* of the CO2 levels. Yes, CO2 emissions are still increasing worldwide, even though at a much slower rate than in the past decade.

With countries like India, which increased its overall emissions this year by 7.8%, thus bringing it to the 4^th place worldwide as CO2 emitters, the battle is far from over.

The other leading CO2 emitters are China (still coming in first with 30% of the global emissions), the United States (with 15%), and the European Union (with 9.6%).

The study which recorded the hopeful findings prevents three potential reasons for the decreasing emission levels.

The first one would be a 4.5 percent reduction from the industrial facilities belonging to the EU Emissions Trading System, which also explains why the European Union dropped below 10% this year.

The second reason is not so encouraging, as global warming caused a milder winter than usual, warranting a 10% drop in resources used for heating.

And the reason presented by the researchers is a 0.5 percent reduction in global oil consumption, owed both to some moving to greener energies, and to the increased oil prices.

Whatever the reasons, we might finally be on the right track. With the Paris Climate Change Summit next week addressing the planet’s issues head on, and a significant donation from Bill Gates meant to encourage others to implicate themselves in the planet’s future, we might, in the recent to not so distant future, finally stop destroying the blue planet.

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