First sign that humanity is slowing its carbon surge
2012 may go down in history as a remarkable year. For the first time, the maddening pace of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions showed signs of a global slowdown.
Importantly – and unlike the drop in emissions triggered by the 2008 recession – the let-off is happening at the same time as global wealth continues to swell.
"The small increase in emissions [of 2012]... may be the first sign of a more permanent slowdown in the increase of global CO2 emissions, and ultimately of declining global emissions," declares the Trends in Global CO2 Emissions: 2013 Report, published by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) last week. It analyses the latest emissions data, right up to 2012.
The news should provide fresh momentum for UN negotiations on a new climate treaty, which resume in Poland on Monday.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029422.800-first-sign-that-humanity-is-slowing-its-carbon-surge.html?full=true#.Un15_xpDtMg