Global CO2 emissions at all-time high

Driven by a steady increase in energy use in emerging economies over the past 10 years, last year saw global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reach a new high, says a study.

Global CO2 emissions last year grew to the new record of 35.3 billion tonnes (Gt), the annual report released Wednesday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of European Commission noted.

Sharp risers include Brazil (+ 6.2 percent), India (+ 4.4 percent), China (+ 4.2 percent) and Indonesia (+2.3 percent).

China, the US and the EU remain the top-three emitters of CO2, accounting for respectively 29 percent, 15 percent and 11 percent of the world's total, the report highlighted.

The CO2 emissions of the US grew by 2.5 percent in 2013, whereas in the EU emissions continued to decrease, by 1.4 percent in 2013.

However, the report pointed out that emissions increased at a notably slower rate (two percent) than on average in the last 10 years (3.8 percent per year since 2003).

This slowdown, which began in 2012, signals a further decoupling of global emissions and economic growth, which reflects mainly the lower emissions growth rate of China.

The much lower emissions increase in China of 4.2 percent in 2013 and 3.4 percent in 2012 was primarily due to a decline in electricity and fuel demand from the basic materials industry, and aided by an increase in renewable energy and by energy efficiency improvements.

The report is based on recent results from the joint JRC/PBL Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), the latest statistics on energy use and various other activities.