Energy-related CO2 emissions remained flat for the second year in a row in 2015, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the International Energy Agency. “The new figures confirm last year’s surprising but welcome news: we now have seen two straight years of greenhouse gas emissions decoupling from economic growth,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a press release. “Coming just a few months after the landmark COP21 agreement in Paris, this is yet another boost to the global fight against climate change.”
According to the data, global emissions stood at 32.1 billion metric tons in 2015. That figure has remained essentially the same since the end of 2013. “The two largest emitters, China and the United States, both registered a decline in energy-related CO2 in 2015,” the release explains.
“In China, emissions declined by 1.5%, as coal use dropped for the second year in a row. The economic restructuring towards less energy-intensive industries and the government’s efforts to decarbonise electricity generation pushed coal use down. In 2015, coal generated less than 70% of Chinese electricity, ten percentage points less than four years ago (in 2011),” the release explains.
In the U.S. declining emissions is credited to a shift from coal to natural gas for energy generation.
The decline in U.S. and Chinese emissions was offset by increasing emissions in other Asian developing countries and the Middle East, along with a moderate increase in Europe.
