Climate change: CO2 emissions fall in 18 countries with strong policies, study finds

Countries moving away from fossil fuels and toward renewables such as solar and wind energy are finding that it’s making a difference in decreasing their CO2 emissions. (Pat Martel/CBC) In a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change , researchers suggest that countries that are turning to renewable energy sources and moving away from fossil fuels are making progress in reducing CO2 emissions. The study looked at emissions from between 2005 and 2015. Globally, CO2 was on the rise — about 2.2 per cent annually — but in 18 countries, their emissions saw a decline. These 18 account for 28 per cent of global emissions. "We went in these 18 countries and looked at what policies they had in place … and we found that, in the countries where there’s more policy in place, the decreases in emissions were larger," said Corinne Le Quéré, a Canadian professor of climate change science at the University of East Anglia in the U.K. "That suggests that the policies do work." But another contributing factor, they found, was that these countries were also using less energy overall. They might have more efficient heating systems, or more electric cars on the roads, […]

Click here to view original web page at Climate change: CO2 emissions fall in 18 countries with strong policies, study finds