International. According to one study, global greenhouse gas emissions have shown a slowdown in growth over the past three years.
A report published by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency calculates the global increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The results show that emissions reached 49.3 Gigatons (GT) of CO2.
Most emissions (about 72%) consist of CO2, but methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and fluorinated gases (fluorinated gases) also make up a substantial share (19%, 6% and 3%, respectively). HFC-134a represents a large subcategory of fluorinated gases, accounting for about 19% of emissions.
Most countries showed a decrease in CO2 emissions in 2016; in particular the US (-2.0%), the Russian Federation (-2.1%), Brazil (-6.1%), China (-0.3%) and the United Kingdom (-6.4%). By contrast, the largest absolute increases were seen in India (+4.7%) and Indonesia (+6.4%).
For many of the larger emitting countries, this is a continuation of the 2015 trend. With an estimated 0.2% increase in CO2 emissions, emissions in the European Union remained more or less the same in 2016. In contrast to most major emitters, emissions from the rest of the world show an upward trend.
