About one-third of world's regions 'decoupled', many in Europe: Study

New Delhi, Oct 29 (PTI) About 30 per cent of the world's regions have fully separated or "decoupled" -- where the economy grows but carbon emissions decline -- many of them in Europe, according to a study.

In contrast, North America and Asia have shown more fluctuating decoupling trends over the past decades, even as an improvement was seen in the last decade, researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany, said.

Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is one of the goals of 2015's Paris Agreement and is aimed at striking a balance between carbon emitted and that absorbed. It is considered important to limit the increase in the global average temperature to between 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius, more widely known as the 'temperature goals of the Paris Agreement'.

"A stabilisation of the global mean temperature is only possible with net-zero carbon emissions. That means that if economies want to grow they need to be decoupled from CO2 emissions," Anders Levermann, from PIK and co-author of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said.

The researchers analysed economic outputs of 1,500 subnational (or below national level) regions around the world where the observed per capita gross regional product (GRP) was increasing, accounting for 85 per cent of global emissions. The team then combined this with data on carbon emissions from due to production activities over the past 30 years.

"Countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with greater spending on subnational climate actions show higher decoupling rates, as do subnational regions in (the European Union) countries where climate policies have been implemented, highlighting the effectiveness of subnational policies," the authors wrote.

Levermann said, "Regions with high incomes and a history of carbon-intensive industries, as well as those with significant shares of service and manufacturing sectors were particularly successful in reducing carbon emissions while still experiencing economic growth." "Specifically, EU cities that have implemented climate mitigation plans and regions that have received increased financial support for climate actions tend to show higher rates of decoupling," lead author Maria Zioga, a PIK scientist, said.

"Notably, Europe consistently outperforms other parts of the world, with many of its regions showing a continuous decoupling trend over the past 20 years. In contrast, North America and Asia have seen more fluctuating decoupling patterns over the decades, but there's been an improvement trend in the last decade," she said.

Further, at current rates of decoupling carbon emissions from economic growth, under half the world's subnational regions will be able to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to corresponding author Maximilian Kotz, a PIK guest researcher.

"Therefore, all levels of government need to step up and developed countries in particular should increase their efforts and investment in the energy transition in the countries of the global south in order to meet net-zero targets globally," he said. PTI KRS RT RT