Global CO2 emissions actually decreased by 0.5 gigatonne (Gt) between 2008 and 2009, which represented a decline of 1.5 percent, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) said Monday in a report.

According to the IEA, the increase of CO2 emission in emerging countries is mostly due to their coal-dominated or fossil-fuel-dominated energy mix, which is hard to see changes in short term. [File photo]?

"Due to the 2008-2009 economic crisis global CO2 emissions decreased for the first time since 1990, but a large rebound is anticipated in 2010," the IEA said while presenting the CO2 emission report.

Given the boosted development in emerging countries following 2008 financial crisis, the emissions from the non-Annex I bloc to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) continued to grow in 2009 by 3.3 percent, led by Asia and the Middle East, while that of the developed countries as Annex I parties fell by 6.5 percent, IEA data showed.

The IEA report noted that 2009 emission levels for the group of countries participating in the Kyoto protocol were 14.7 percent below their 1990 level.

Currently, the Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 state parties since it entered into force in 2005, but excluding the United States that belongs to Annex I group.

According to the IEA, the increase of CO2 emission in emerging countries is mostly due to their coal-dominated or fossil-fuel-dominated energy mix, which is hard to see changes in short term.

Consequently, CO2 emissions in developing countries in 2010 is estimated to continue to increase while that in developed countries will also rebound.

Sector by sector, the IEA findings underlined that electricity and heat generation as well as transport were biggest contributors of global CO 82emissions in 2009 with a collective share nearly at two-thirds, up from 58 percent in 1990.

Regarding a break-down of the CO2 source, coal emission grew from 40 percent to 43 percent between 1990 and 2009 as natural gas emission increased from 18 percent to 20 percent, but oil emission fell from 42 percent to 37 percent.

Looking into the next two decades, fossil fuels consumption will dominate the increase in energy demand, and coal will continue to be the world's fastest growing energy source for some time with a rise by two-third by 2035.

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