The relatively small upside of India's economic slowdown

• India’s carbon emission is growing slowly — thanks to a slowing economy.
• Slow economic growth in China and India and some other parts of the world led to weaker growth in carbon emissions in 2019, according to a new report.
• There’s also a surprise decline in coal use in the US and Europe.
• Global carbon emissions will increase by 0.6% in 2019 — which is lower in comparison to 2.1% in 2018 and 1.5% in 2017.

Slow economic growth in China and India and some other parts of the world is expected to lessen the burden of carbon emissions in 2019. There’s also a surprise decline in coal use in the US and Europe which can also aid the much needed change.

In 2019, global carbon emissions will increase by 0.6% — which is much lower in comparison to 2.1% in 2018 and 1.5% in 2017.

Scientists are estimating a decline of 10% in emissions this year, said the Global Project report released the COP25 in Madrid.

This drop however is not enough as the world should reduce its carbon emissions. The total global emissions must fall by 55% to achieve global targets. Moreover, this marginal growth might not last as economic growth picks up, and emissions will grow yet again.

The relatively small upside of India's economic slowdown

India’s emission in 2019 will be 1.8% higher than 2018 — and it has an effect of slowdown. Emissions grew by 8% in 2018.

Over the last 10 years, India’s emission rate stood at over 5%. It emitted as much as 1.99 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2014, and its total greenhouse gas emissions was equivalent to 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.

“Weak economic growth in India has led to slower growth in oil and natural gas use. With a weakening economy, growth in India’s generation of electricity has slowed from 6% per year to under 1% in 2019, despite electrification of villages adding to potential demand. Moreover, the addition of a very wet monsoon led to very high hydropower generation and a decline in generation from coal,” said the Global Carbon Budget 2019.

UN also found that the government policies implemented to tackle carbon emissions are ineffective and may not help countries meet the Paris Agreement.

“Carbon dioxide emissions must decline sharply if the world is to meet the ‘well below 2°C’ mark set out in the Paris Agreement, and every year, with growing emissions, makes that target even more difficult to reach,” said Robbie Andrew, a senior researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate Research in Norway.

Global Emission to hit an all-new record

Even though the growth of carbon emission is slowed, scientists believe global CO2 emissions is going to set an all-new record.

The total emission from industrial activities is estimated to be 36.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. Whereas, total carbon emissions from all from all human activities, including agriculture and land use, will be about 43.1 billion tons — breaking the previous year’s record.