Carbon Dioxide Emissions Hit a Record in 2019, Even as Coal Fades

WASHINGTON — Emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide from fossil fuels hit a record high in 2019, researchers said Tuesday, putting countries farther off course from their goal of halting global warming.

The new data contained glimmers of good news: Worldwide, industrial emissions are on track to rise 0.6 percent this year, a considerably slower pace than the 1.5 percent increase seen in 2017 and the 2.1 percent rise in 2018. The United States and the European Union both managed to cut their carbon dioxide output this year, while India’s emissions grew far more slowly than expected.

A pump jack in Stanton, Tex. The United States generates
 14 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

And global emissions from coal, the worst-polluting of all fossil fuels, unexpectedly declined by about 0.9 percent in 2019, although that drop was more than offset by strong growth in the use of oil and natural gas around the world.

Scientists have long warned, however, that it’s not enough for emissions to grow slowly or even just stay flat in the years ahead. In order to avoid many of the most severe consequences of climate change — including deadlier heat waves, fiercer droughts, and food and water shortages — global carbon dioxide emissions would need to steadily decline each year and reach roughly zero well before the end of the century.

Read the story from The New York Times by Brad Plumer - “Carbon Dioxide Emissions Hit a Record in 2019, Even as Coal Fades.”

An $85 Billion Asset Manager Is Planning a Total Exit From Coal

The biggest publicly traded life insurer in Norway, Storebrand ASA, is planning a total exit from coal by 2026.

Jan Erik Saugestad.

They’re one of a widening field of investors withdrawing from the most polluting fossil fuels as the threat of climate change reshapes asset management. The asset manager has already excluded 64 companies with ties to coal since it introduced its first restrictions in 2013. Norway’s $990 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, cut its exposure to coal after introducing similar rules in 2015.

Oslo-based Storebrand, which has $85 billion in assets under management, already refrains from investing in companies that get more than 30 percent of their revenue from coal. Those restrictions will be gradually tightened over the next eight years, it said.

Read the story from Bloomberg by Mikael Holter - “An $85 Billion Asset Manager Is Planning a Total Exit From Coal.”