With the global recession slowing economic growth and the rate of energy use, the International Energy Association plans to reduce its forecast for 2030 CO2 emissions. The projection has extra importance because it will be used as a baseline for the December climate talks in Copenhagen.
Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the IEA, said the forecast will be lowered because of "stalled industrial activity amid the economic crisis," reports Bloomberg.
Tanaka will reveal the new estimate Oct. 6 at a United Nations climate summit in Bangkok.
In its 2008 World Energy Outlook, IEA forecast 2030 energy-related emissions at 41 billion metric tons, up from 28 billion tons in 2006.
In order to keep global warming in check, the IEA has warned that 2030 emissions need to be limited to about 26 billion tons.
That will be a tough goal, considering that IEA expects electricity used by electronic devices alone to triple by 2030, reports PlanningResource. Currently, electronic devices consume about 15 percent of global electricity.
