IEA Report: Global Carbon Emissions Have Flattened Out

Here is some very encouraging news coming from a preliminary report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). Global carbon dioxide emissions for the year 2014 were 32.3 billion metric tons, the same amount as the previous year. Emissions, which had been growing at an annual rate of 2.4%, have now flattened out even as the global economy grew by 3%.

"This is both a very welcome surprise and a significant one," said IEA Chief  Economist Fatih Birol, recently named to take over for Maria van der Hoeven as Executive Director. "It provides much-needed momentum to negotiators preparing to forge a global climate deal in Paris in December: for the first time, greenhouse gas emissions are decoupling from economic growth."

According to IEA, this is the first time in 40 years that emissions have fallen without a corresponding drop in economic activity.

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RP Siegel, author and inventor, shines a powerful light on numerous environmental and technological topics. He has been published in business and technical journals and has written three books. His third, co-authored with Roger Saillant, is Vapor Trails, an eco-thriller that is being adapted for the big screen. RP is a professional engineer – and a prolific inventor, with 50 patents, numerous awards, and several commercial products. He is president of Rain Mountain LLC and is an active environmental advocate in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y. In addition to Justmeans, he writes for Triple Pundit, ThomasNet News, and Energy Viewpoints, occasionally contributing to Mechanical Engineering, Strategy + Business, and Huffington Post.