Carbon dioxide emissions from energy have not increased for three years in a row even as the global economy grew, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. Global emissions from the energy sector were 32.1bn tonnes in 2016, the same as the previous two years, while the economy grew 3.1%, the organisation said. US emissions are at their lowest level since 1992, while the economy has grown 80% since that time. Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said: “These three years of flat emissions in a growing global economy signal an emerging trend and that is certainly a cause for optimism, even if it is too soon to say that global emissions have definitely peaked. Emissions in the EU were largely stable as gas demand grew 8% and coal fell by 10%.

Source: The Guardian March 17, 2017 14:15 UTC