(Bloomberg) — A report showing that global emissions were
unchanged last year shows economic growth is possible amid the
fight against climate change, a World Bank official said.
Carbon-dioxide emissions were stable at 32.3 billion metric
tons, even as the global economy advanced 3 percent, the
International Energy Agency said in a statement on Friday. It
was the first time that has happened amid economic growth in 40
years, the Paris-based agency said, citing preliminary
estimates.
“The IEA report was terribly important because it shows it
can be done,” Rachel Kyte, the World Bank’s special envoy for
climate change said Monday. “It shows that we can begin to
really plan growth that is low-carbon and resilient and we can
begin to decouple growth from carbonization.”
The IEA said the halt in emissions growth is attributable
to changing patterns of energy consumption in China and
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.
China, the world’s largest emitter, generated more electricity
from renewable sources such as hydropower and solar, and less
from coal last year, the agency said.
“Here we have evidence it can be done through smart
policies, smart fiscal, macro economic and energy pricing
policies,” Kyte said.
The World Bank envoy is in Japan for a United Nations
conference on disaster risk reduction in Sendai north of Tokyo.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at
cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Iain Wilson, Keith Gosman