Global CO 2 emission levels remained more or less stable in 2015 and 2016, especially when taking into account that 2016 was a leap year and, therefore, 0.3% longer. The recent slowdown in the increase in CO 2 has mainly resulted from lower coal consumption due to fuel switches to natural gas and increased renewable energy in power generation.

These are the main conclusions from the report Trends in global CO 2 and total greenhouse gas emissions: Summary of the 2017 report by PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

Emissions in largest countries stabilise or drop, India shows major increase

The five largest emitting countries plus the European Union, which together account for 51% of the world population, accounted for 68% of total global CO 2 emissions and about 65% of total global GHG emissions. Of those largest emitters, only India shows a significantly rising trend (+4.7% in 2016). In Russia and the United States, the trend is downwards (both -2.0%) as well as in Japan (-1.3%), whereas in China, the European Union and the group of other G20 members, levels remained more or less the same as in 2015.

Non-CO 2 sources make up 28% of global GHG emissions

Non-CO 2 GHG emissions comprise about 28% of total GHG emissions (excluding those from land use), and consist of methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases (F-gases: HFCs, PFCs and SF 6 ). Methane, constituting about 19% of global emissions, is by far the largest category. Its main sources are fossil fuel production (25%), cattle (23%) and rice production (10%).

Emissions from land use and forest and peat fires uncertain