For Third Year in a Row, Carbon Emissions Flat as Global Economy Grows

Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels stayed flat in 2015 and are projected to increase by only 0.2 percent in 2016 — marking three years in a row that emissions have been decoupled from global economic growth, according to a new analysis by scientists at the University of East Anglia and the Global Carbon Project. The three-year slowdown is largely due to China’s declining coal usage, the study said, which helped the country reduce emissions 0.7 percent in 2015 and a projected 0.5 percent in 2016. But the scientists warned that emissions simply staying flat is not sufficient to combat climate change. “This third year of almost no growth in emissions is unprecedented at a time of strong economic growth”¦ but it is not enough,” Corinne Le Quéré, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia who led the data analysis, said in a statement. “Global emissions now need to decrease rapidly, not just stop growing.”