2012 sees slowdown in the increase in global CO2 emissions

October 31, 2013 4:51 PM

From the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency... (Interactive Presentation)(Actual Report PDF) Actual global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached a new record of 34.5 billion tonnes in 2012. Yet, the increase in global CO2 emissions in that year slowed down to 1.1% , which was less than half the average annual increase of 2.9% over the last decade. This is remarkable, as the global economy grew by 3.5%. This development signals a shift towards less fossil-fuel-intensive activities, more use of renewable energy and increased energy saving. Increases in fossil-fuel consumption in 2012 were 2.2% for natural gas, 0.9% for oil products, and 0.6% for coal.
posted by Long Way To Go (13 comments total)

Still, a long way to go.
posted by stbalbach at 4:53 PM on October 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

It's nice to hear good news about the climate once in a while.
posted by clockzero at 4:57 PM on October 31, 2013

Still, a long way to go.

Perfect is always the enemy of the good. This is a positive change, no?
posted by emptythought at 5:00 PM on October 31, 2013

yes, and eponysterical.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:05 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

So the 2nd derivative is negative now? Um, we really need the first derivative to decline.
posted by ocschwar at 5:17 PM on October 31, 2013 [11 favorites]

> This is a positive change, no?

Nature only cares about the absolute ppm number. It is a positive change but wrong direction.
posted by stbalbach at 5:20 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

OK. Good. Now lets hope it's indicating we're bending the curve over to have a real negative slope, and not just a fluctuation.
posted by mondo dentro at 6:04 PM on October 31, 2013

AL GORE MUST BE HOLDING HIS BREATH
AM I RITE FELLOW LOCAL NEWSPAPER COMMENT POSTERS
UP TOP
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:13 PM on October 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

It's a positive change numerically, but in reality, it is no change at all.

We know we need to reduce our carbon emissions by roughly a factor of ten - and soon. We know that it will take huge political and economic effort to get there. We aren't making the changes that put us on a path that averts disaster.

Aside from in some parts of Europe, this is just a blip based on contingent changes in the world (like the very low price of natural gas in North America displacing coal). Very little of this happened intentionally, in other words.
posted by ssg at 8:02 PM on October 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

So, CO2 concentration is the highest that it's ever been in human history. And we are putting more CO2 into the atmosphere than ever before. But the amount by which we increased the rate at which we're adding CO2 to the atmosphere, that was somewhat less in 2012 than 2011. That passes for good news today.

Times like these, you can only step back and appreciate just how well and truly fucked we are.
posted by aw_yiss at 8:19 PM on October 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

So this is the second differential of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere?
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:57 PM on October 31, 2013

So the 2nd derivative is negative now? Um, we really need the first derivative to decline.

You could haphazardly trade derivatives to help make that happen rather quickly, but that may have unintended consequences... just sayin'. ;)
posted by JoeXIII007 at 5:02 AM on November 1, 2013

http://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/carbon/?src=home-b2

* US emissions down 3.8% this year. Now at lowest level since 1994.
* US economy grew 2.8% (GDP) while US energy consumption went down 2.4%.
* Carbon intensity of electricity produced decreased 13% over last 5 years. Increased fracking led to increased natural gas production, leading to decreased coal use.
* Reductions in residential use ("much more energy is needed for space heating than for air conditioning") and transportation (more efficient vehicles) are largely responsible for the decline in energy use.
posted by TheFlamingoKing at 2:19 PM on November 1, 2013