Third year of decoupling emissions from global economic growth

According to the IEA, even thought the world's economy grew in 2016, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions remained constant.  This is the third year in a row of "decoupled emissions", economic growth that did not generate more emissions.  The IEA ascribes the flattening of emissions to growing renewable power generation, switches from coal to natural gas, improvements in energy efficiency, and economic factors.  The IEA estimated that energy-related emissions in 2016 amounted to 32.1 gigatonnes, the same as the previous two years.  In 2016 the global economy grew 3.1%. Carbon dioxide emissions declined in the United States and China and were stable in Europe, offsetting increases in most of the rest of the world.  According to the IEA in the United States, carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 3% while the economy grew by 1.6%.