By dcmaster on Flickr

For the first time this decade global CO2 emissions decreased 1.3 percent in 2009, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. But that drop was offseted by a significant rise in emissions in China and India by 9 and 6 percent.

While the drop is a reason to celebrate, the decrease in emissions is linked to the slow global economy. China and India, on the other hand, have had two of the fastest growing economies — with India’s growth rate at about 8.6 percent and China’s at 10.3 percent.

“The decrease in emissions follow the decrease in the global economy. This is not unexpected”, said Gunnar Myhre, senior research fellow at CICERO and one of the scientists behind the article.

The global drop is mainly due to the lower use of oil and gas, while emissions from coal have remained stable. In fact, the use of coal as a fuel has increased.

China is far ahead of the west in terms of its clean energy investments, but the country still relies on coal for more than 70 percent of its energy needs, according to the Christian Science Monitor. As a result, China is now responsible for 24 percent of the global fossil emissions of CO2.

Even building seemingly green infrastructure initially produces emissions and China’s investment into large-scale infrastructure projects has led to the biggest increase in pollution. However, the emissions have surpassed its economic growth.

“When China invests in roads or buildings, this causes large emissions, as industries like cement and steel industries are very emission intensive”, Glen Peters, a senior research fellow at CICERO, told Green Car Congress.

Just last week China had a 11-day traffic jam that was that stretched for more than 60 miles because trucks loaded with illegal coal were using the road to bypass inspectors. Apparently, mines in Inner Mongolia are being tapped to meet the rampant energy demands of Beijing, China’s capital and largest city.

China is also supposed to see a surge in vehicular traffic to more than 1.2 billion by 2025, from 750 million today. Even as the country is giving out huge stimulus funds to see an increase in electric vehicles on the road, for now those are most likely to be powered by electricity produced from coal-plants.

For any true dent in China’s emissions standards, the reliance on coal is going to have to decrease. As more of their green-projects get completed — and as electricity starts getting produced from renewable sources — China will hopefully see a drop in emissions.