A few weeks ago I discussed the relationship of global economic activity and carbon dioxide emissions. At the time a wrote, “while it is uncertain what exact effect the global economic slowdown will have on emissions, a good bet is that emissions will increase at a rate proportionately less.” An observation by Jeffery Currie in the January 21 FT helps to explain why this is likely to be the case:

Even with current weakness in demand, capacity utilisation for global oil production is still 94.4 per cent. To put this into context, the utilisation rate for the US manufacturing sector is 70.2 per cent. Energy, arguably the most important industry in the global economy, runs near capacity even during a global recession.