Have global CO_2 emissions really decoupled from growth?

摘要

Global emissions of carbon dioxide decoupled from economic growth in 2012, but there is reason to doubt this will be a long-term trend, researchers announced on 31 October. The EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Dutch environment agency found that emissions grew by 1.1% while the world economy grew by 3.5%. In 2011, emissions grew 1.4% and the economy 3.5%. "The smaller increase in emissions in 2012 may be the first sign of a slowdown in the increase of global emissions," the researchers argue. Will the slowdown last? ENDS compared GDP data from the IMF and emissions data from the report (figure 1).