Faced with a slowing global economy, individuals and industries in countries worldwide are cutting back. On their spending. On their expectations. Not on their greenhouse gas emissions.
Even with more economic doom and gloom forecast for 2009, the annual 3 percent growth of global emissions is likely to ease only slightly next year, and could increase over the long term because of the downturn’s negative impact on international climate change talks and funding for renewable energy projects, the Guardian’s Adam Vaughan reports.
While Deutsche Bank analysts said this month that Europe and the United States could see emissions in 2009 drop by as much as 10 percent compared to 2007 levels, they don’t expect the cuts to last, with emissions back on the rise by 2010.
And any short-term declines in the U.S. or Europe are also likely to be offset by emission increases from developing world economies, said Abyd Karmali, Merrill Lynch's global head of carbon emissions.
“I don't think we'll see a reduction in emissions,” Karmali said. “We talk about global recession but the truth is economies in places like China and India are still growing.”