Another Study Finds Earth's CO2 Emissions Have Flattened Over The Last Three Years (go.com)

An anonymous reader quotes the Associated Press: Worldwide emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide have flattened out in the past three years, a new study showed Monday, raising hopes that the world is nearing a turning point in the fight against climate change. However, the authors of the study cautioned it's unclear whether the slowdown in CO2 emissions, mainly caused by declining coal use in China, is a permanent trend or a temporary blip...

The study, published in the journal Earth System Science Data, says global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry is projected to grow by just 0.2 percent this year. That would mean emissions have leveled off at about 36 billion metric tons in the past three years even though the world economy has expanded, suggesting the historical bonds between economic gains and emissions growth may have been severed. "This could be the turning point we have hoped for," said David Ray, a professor of carbon management at the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved with the study. "To tackle climate change those bonds must be broken and here we have the first signs that they are at least starting to loosen."
Last week a study suggested earth's plant life is absorbing a greater percentage of global CO2 emissions -- although reductions in China could also be significant. According to the article, almost 30% of the world's carbon emissions come from China.

Comments

Re:cost

[BlueStrat]

A big LIE is of course the cost of solar and wind, which are now already cheaper than coal and oil, even without subsidies.

FTFY

If that were true that they were cheaper everyone would be figuratively storming the gates to use wind/solar, the wind/solar equipment makers couldn't keep the stuff on the shelves, and they'd be abandoning other generation means within a couple years because they'd make more money.

That's not happening.

Is wind/solar getting cheaper? Yes, of course. Is it more economical than other types? Not yet. I'm sure we'll get there, but "we ain't there yet".

What higher prices for electricity and other forms of energy also do besides cause people to use less, is it also causes people to die who otherwise would not. Artificial increases to the price of energy can be measured in lives lost and human suffering, malnutrition, and more. Energy prices affect the price of practically everything else, including food.

How many frozen grandmothers, elderly, disabled, and babies/children's lives is it worth to use energy price increases to curtail energy usage? How many frozen grannies per cent/kWh are enough? How many frozen grannies are too much?

If you favor increasing energy prices as a means of social engineering, would you be willing to personally go to the people who dies' family's homes and explain why it was necessary that they had to die? If not, why do you think it's OK for them to die for your agenda as long as you don't have to face any personal consequences?

Strat