Carbon emissions have become a focus of policy makers across the globe. However, it is important to consider the sources of carbon emissions in order to implement sensible policies to manage them. The chart on the left shows energy-related CO2 emissions over the past three decades from advanced versus developing economies.
Emissions are relatively stable in advanced economies, but have risen rapidly in developing economies. This is, of course, linked to economic growth. The higher the growth rate of an economy, the more incremental carbon emissions that economy will release. As shown in the chart on the right, economic growth drives carbon emissions (red) so policy makers have to actively counteract this (green) in order to stabilize or reduce carbon emissions overall.