Global emissions of carbon dioxide blamed for climate change could have peaked after decades of almost non-stop rises.

New figures, released as ministers from around the world arrive in Paris for the final week of UN climate talks, show levels of the greenhouse gas production appear to have fallen this year.

The estimates were hailed as 'good news' in the battle to stop dangerous global warming as it suggests it is possible to cut carbon emissions even with a background of a growing prosperity.

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Levels of CO2 emissions could have peaked this year, raising hopes that efforts to tackle climate change will see greenhouse gas levels fall to meet ambitious targets set for 2050

Overall, the world's economy is estimated to have grown by around three per cent in 2015 and 2014.

It has raised hopes that world leaders could yet meet targets to almost halve carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 while still meeting rising energy demands.

Yet, despite the apparent glimmers of hope, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon warned the world was still doomed if a deal is not thrashed out to further reduce global warming.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER JOINS CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS IN PARIS Arnold Schwarzenegger at the climate talks in Paris US actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger has met with China's chief climate negotiator at the climate talks in Paris. Mr Schwarzenegger said the US and others need to work together with China to fight climate change. He said the whole world is letting China produce their products and therefore sending the pollution to China, adding 'it's not them versus us, it's more like how do we do this together'. He also called on parties at the talks to be more 'collaborative' and go beyond 'political beliefs, ideology.' Discussions continue in Paris ahead of the next high-level round of negotiations that begin on Monday. Advertisement

Addressing ministers from participating countries at the opening of the second week of the UN climate talks he said: 'The clock is ticking towards climate catastrophe.

'Your task is to translate this historic call for action into a durable, dynamic, credible and fair climate agreement.'

Negotiators from 195 countries at the Paris talks have produced a draft of the climate deal, which aims to curb temperature rises and avoid dangerous climate change.

Much still needs to be agreed by ministers in the high-level talks that began on Monday.

But there are high expectations that nations are closer to securing a global climate deal than at a United Nations summit in Copenhagen six years ago.

Key to limiting global warming to below 2°C (3.6°F) by 2100 is a major reduction in carbon emissions.

The new estimates show the amount of carbon dioxide may have fallen by as much as 1.6 per cent by the end of the year - after decades of annual increases averaging around 2.4 per cent a year.

This comes after a fall of up to 0.6 per cent last year.

The fall in the figures – estimated by University of East Anglia and the Global Carbon Project – was largely due to a fall in coal consumption in China, the world's biggest polluter.

China is cutting back on coal power and shifting to renewable energy and nuclear power as its cities are choked by clouds of smog causing a health disaster in the country.

On Monday China issued its first ever 'red alert' over its filthy unbreathable air. It will close schools until Thursday as pollution partly caused by coal power hit dangerous levels.

The researchers say much of the decrease in carbon dioxide emissions is due to the reduction in coal-fired power stations in China and the slow down of the country's economy. China is the world's biggest polluter, followed by the United States and India (illustrated above)

The growth of China's economy has also slowed - from 10 per cent to around seven per cent in 2015 and 2014 – which has also helped to drive down the carbon dioxide produced.

At the same time, it is shifting away from polluting heavy industry such as steel to lighter manufacturing.

Professor Corinne Le Quere, director of the Tyndall Centre at UEA who led the data analysis, said: 'With two years of untypical emissions growth, it looks like the trajectory of global emissions might have changed temporarily.

'It is unlikely that emissions have peaked for good.

'This is because energy needs for growing economies still rely primarily on coal and emissions decreases in some industrial countries are still modest at best.'

Ministers from around the world are now attempting to negotiate a new deal on climate change in the hope of halving levels of emissions by 2050. The graph above shows what may happen under different global greenhouse gas emissions scenarios

She said it was more typical for carbon dioxide emissions to have been around 2-3 per cent a year since 2000.

She said, however, the decrease may only be temporary as China has estimated it may be 2030 before its carbon emissions finally peak.

She added that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at 400 parts per million was still at its highest for 800,000 years

The UK's emissions decreased by 9 per cent in 2014 to 0.43 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide – 1.2 per cent of the world's total. Overall, the UK is producing 28 per cent less carbon dioxide now than in 1990.

The EU's total carbon output fell by six per cent, according to the figures. This was in part due to 2014 being one of the hottest years on record, which many experts have blamed on global warming.

Dr Glen Peters, of the Centre for International Climate Research said of the fall in EU emissions: 'It was a lot to do with warmer weather.'

Reductions in carbon dioxide output in Europe were almost completely wiped out by the growth in emissions in fast-growing India, the experts said.

While Europe reduced its carbon dioxide by 210 million tonnes last year, India's increased by 205 million tonnes, according to the research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Commenting on the study, Professor Myles Allen at the University of Oxford said: 'To stop temperatures rising, net emissions need to be reduced to zero.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (pictured) warned world leaders that the clock was 'ticking towards climate catastrophe' if a deal was not thrashed out to reduce further global warming at the UN talks in Paris

The study has suggested that global carbon dioxide emissions have fallen by three percent in 2014 and 2015, largely due to a drop in coal consumption in many nations (Ratcliffe-on Soar coal power station pictured)

'But for that, emissions need to peak first. So evidence that it is possible to grow the world economy while reducing emissions is of course good news.

'Is this the beginning of the end of global warming? Probably not. But let's hope it is the end of the beginning.'

U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres called on ministers to produce an agreement 'that safeguards the most vulnerable and unleashes the full force of human ingenuity for prosperity for all.'

Alluding to the long-lasting effects of climate change, Figueres said she's kept up at night by a vision of 'the eyes of seven generations beyond me asking me, 'what did you do?'

Meanwhile British Government ministers have been accused of hypocrisy for flying to Paris instead of taking the Eurostar which produces eleven times less carbon dioxide than a flight.

David Cameron, climate change secretary Amber Rudd, and development secretary Justine Greening all took flights to or from Paris according to environment experts Business Green.

According to Eurostar, a short haul return flight from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle airport emits 122 kg of CO2 per person, 11 times more than the 10.9 kg CO2 emitted per Eurostar passenger travelling from St Pancras to the centre of Paris.

Friends of the Earth’s CEO Craig Bennett said: 'It’s perfectly easy to understand that many people will find British ministers flying to a climate conference to be hypocritical.

‘But the hypocrisy that really matters is the hypocrisy we’ve seen in government climate and energy policy these last six months.’

A spokesman for DECC said that Miss Rudd needed to flew back to the UK earlier this week with the PM for reasons of flexibility as timings were tight.