Study links lower carbon emissions to recession

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/environment/2010-11-22-carbon22_ST_N.htm

By Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide, widely blamed as the chief cause of global warming, dropped from 2008 to 2009, largely because of the global economic slowdown, according to a study released Sunday. It was the first decline since the late 1990s.

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Is the emissions drop entirely a result of the economic crisis? No, says Dan Lashof, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council climate center, who was not part of the study. "The decreases in emissions for the big countries were larger than their GDP decline," he says. "It's not just the recession."

Lashof says concerted efforts to limit and reduce carbon emissions and invest in clean energy in countries such as Germany and the U.K. could be paying dividends.

The fact that fewer trees are being cut down in some parts of the world is also good news. "We found global emissions from deforestation have decreased through the last decade by more than 25%, compared to the 1990s," says study co-author and Global Carbon Project executive director Pep Canadell. Cutting down trees and clearing forests — known as deforestation — releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the trees rot and are burned.

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