Environment Counts | OECD emissions remain constant as economy grows 10% :

The latest detailed official statistics for the 34 countries in the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development and released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) show that emissions fell 1.4% in 2014, to 11.9 gigatonnes, which are nearly the same as OECD emissions in 2009. Over that same period OECD countries’ economy grew by 10%. The IEA reports that this is the first decoupling of economic growth and emissions on a worldwide basis in the past 40 years.

The leading factor in the stabilized emissions is a decline in the energy intensity of OECD countries’ economies primarily as a result of greater energy efficiency, warmer seasons, and reduced emissions per kilowatt-hour in electricity generation. Electricity generation produces 40% of energy-related CO2 in the OECD. The drop in generation emissions is partly the result of renewables other than hydro power now accounting for a full 10% of electricity generation in the OECD. Recent Trends in OECD: Energy and CO2 emissions (2016 preliminary)