Twenty-one countries are reducing carbon emissions while growing their economies, the World Resources Institute (WRI) said.
Analysis by the institute found that the US is the largest country to experience multiple consecutive years of economic growth during which emissions decreased. From 2010 to 2012, energy-related carbon emissions declined by 6% to 5.23 billion tonnes. At the same, gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 4% to $15.4trn.
In the UK, economic growth and CO2 emissions have increasingly diverged, the WRI noted. Between 2000 and 2014, the UK cut emissions from 591 to 470 million tonnes of energy-related CO2, while GDP increased from $2.1trn to $2.7trn, it said. Consultants at PwC last year identified the UK’s performance in decoupling as better than that of other G20 economies. However, its report pointed out that the UK owed more to circumstance than policy, given the CO2 reductions were mostly due to the closure of coal-fired power stations, strong economic growth and a warmer winter.
The WRI did not identify a common policy or demographic trend driving decoupling. For example, Denmark rapidly increased renewable energy, which reduced emissions and stimulated manufacturing, while Sweden implemented a carbon tax. A key factor in many nations was a structural shift away from emissions-intensive industry. However, Bulgaria and Uzbekistan expanded industrial activity by 2% and 10% respectively while achieving emissions cuts of 5% and 2%.
The WRI’s analysis backs up findings from the International Energy Agency, which said in February that energy-related emissions remained flat in 2015 for the second consecutive year, while the global economy expanded by 3%.
Michael Jacobs, senior adviser at the New Climate Economy, said: ‘The evidence that you can have low carbon growth is very strong. The question is whether governments can put in place policies to make it happen.’
