[Compiled by European Times, December 12] A report released on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement (December 12) shows that the once inseparable link between economic growth and carbon emissions is being broken in most parts of the world.
According to a report in the UK's *Guardian*, this report from the Energy and Climate Think Tank (ECIU) points out that this decoupling trend has accelerated since 2015, and is particularly pronounced in major carbon-emitting countries in the Global South, highlighting the effectiveness of strong climate policies.
The report shows that carbon emissions from consumption in countries accounting for 92% of the global economy have now been decoupled from GDP growth. Furthermore, carbon emission decoupling has now become the norm in developed economies; those countries that have reduced carbon emissions while expanding their economies account for 46% of the global GDP, including Brazil, Colombia, and Egypt. The most significant examples of this decoupling are the UK, Norway, and Switzerland.
Even more crucial is China's dramatic transformation. China is significantly reducing its economic dependence on fossil fuels such as coal. Between 2015 and 2023, China's carbon emissions from consumption increased by 24%, less than half of its economic growth (over 50%). Over the past 18 months, China's carbon emissions have stabilized, and many analysts believe they may have peaked.
Over the past decade, 21 countries have made progress in decoupling carbon emissions, including Australia, the UAE, Colombia, Egypt, Italy, Mexico, and South Africa, all of which have achieved economic growth while reducing carbon emissions.
Although US President Trump attempted to steer the US in the opposite direction, carbon emissions only saw a brief rebound during his first term. The report's authors state that US carbon emissions have declined for most of the past 20 years.
However, New Zealand, Latvia, Slovenia, Lithuania, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Togo, and Azerbaijan (COP29 host country) achieved carbon decoupling before 2015, but their economic growth has since become reliant on fossil fuels again.
According to a previous analysis by the ECIU, since 2015, the annual increase in global carbon emissions has slowed to 1.2%, compared to 18.4% in the decade prior to the signing of the Paris Agreement.
In 2015, nearly 200 countries signed the Paris Agreement, pledging to limit global temperature rise to 2°C below pre-industrial levels. This sent a strong signal to businesses and governments that alternative energy sources to oil, natural gas, and coal must be found.
Driven by this, the projected global warming at the end of this century has been lowered from 4°C to 2.6°C. However, the report's authors point out that despite this progress, more rapid action is needed over the next decade to achieve climate stability.
