Yahoo News 21 Sep 09;
LONDON (AFP) – Greenhouse gas emissions have fallen thanks to the global downturn, handing the world a chance to move away from high-carbon growth, a report said Monday, citing an International Energy Agency study.
The unpublished IEA study found carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels had dropped significantly this year -- further than in any year in the past four decades.
Falling industrial output is largely responsible for the plunge in emissions, but other factors also played a role, including shelving plans for new coal-fired power stations because of falling demand and lack of financing.
The fall will exceed the drop in the 1981 recession that followed a crisis in the oil markets, according to the results of study published in the Financial Times newspaper.
"We have a new situation, with the changes in energy demand and the postponement of many energy investments," said Fatih Birol, the IEA's chief economist.
"But this only has meaning if we can make use of this unique window of opportunity. (That means) a deal in Copenhagen."
The December meeting in Copenhagen, under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, aims to set down action for tackling heat-trapping carbon emissions beyond 2012, when the current provisions of the Kyoto Protocol run out.
Government policies to cut emissions have also had an impact on emission levels, with the IEA estimating that about a quarter of the reduction is the result of regulation.
The study is an excerpt from the Paris-based IEA's annual World Energy Outlook, which will be published in November. The excerpt will be released early next month ahead of the Copenhagen meeting, according to the FT.
The report also comes as world leaders converge on New York and Pittsburgh this week for pivotal talks in the two-year effort to remake global climate rules, ahead of Copenhagen.
Birol said a global agreement was needed in Copenhagen to encourage companies to cut emissions.
"We hope that an agreement in Copenhagen would give a signal for new investments to go in (an environmentally) sustainable direction," he said.
"If we miss this opportunity, it will be much more expensive and therefore harder than ever to bring the world's energy system on to a sustainable path."
Emissions of CO2 Set for Best Drop in 40 Years
Jad Mouawad, The New York Times 21 Sep 09;
Global carbon emissions are expected to post their biggest drop in more than 40 years this year as the global recession froze economic activity and slashed energy use around the world.
The decline comes as political leaders are struggling to come up with a common approach to dealing with climate change.
The main factor behind this year’s drop in emissions is the slowdown in industrial activity and trade around the world, according to a study due to be released in November by the International Energy Agency.
But the energy agency, which provides policy advice and research to industrialized nations, found that government actions had also contributed to the drop in emissions. The agency said it expected to see global carbon emissions fall 2.6 percent this year.
The projected decline was first reported Monday by The Financial Times.
World leaders will meet at the United Nations on Tuesday for a one-day summit meeting to pursue a new agreement to fight global warming. The talks are expected to conclude with a climate treaty in Copenhagen in December.
The negotiations are stalled amid disagreements between developed and developing countries on how to share reductions in carbon emissions.
Even if temporary, a global reduction in emissions could allow advocates of stringent new limits on carbon dioxide to argue that continued progress is available using existing technology and switching to cleaner fuels, like natural gas.
The forecast should also make it easier for most nations to meet emissions reduction targets in the near and medium term and could give a lift toward a new global warming treaty, said Paul W. Bledsoe of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan advisory group.
“Because many countries are using 2005 as a baseline year, this will give them some breathing room when economic activity picks up again,” Mr. Bledsoe said.
The projection from the International Energy Agency tracks other forecasts from government agencies, including the Department of Energy, which found that greenhouse gas emissions in the United States fell 3.8 percent in 2008 compared with 2007; they are estimated to be down another 6 percent this year.
However, an improving economy is expected to increase domestic carbon dioxide emissions 0.7 percent next year, according to the Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Department of Energy.
Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of energy sources account for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
John M. Broder contributed reporting from Washington.
