World greenhouse-gas emissions stayed flat for the third year in a row in 2016 thanks to falls in China, even as the pro-coal policies of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump mean uncertainty for the future, an international study concluded on Nov. 14.

CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry were set to rise by 0.2% in 2016 from 2015 levels-- to 36.4 billion tonnes-- in the third consecutive year with negligible change. The rate is down from 3% growth rates in the 2000s, according to the Global Carbon Project study.

The Global Carbon Project, grouping climate researchers, welcomed the flatlining of emissions amid global economic growth. But it cautioned that the world was not yet firmly on track for a greener economy.

"It's far too early to say we've reached a peak in emissions," study co-author Glen Peters told Reuters. Peters, who works at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo, Norway, was referring to the findings issued at U.N. talks on climate change held in Marrakesh, Morocco.

"So far the slowdown has been driven by China," Peters said, adding that Beijing's climate change policies would also be the dominant force in the future since it accounts for almost 30% of global emissions.

Chinese emissions were on track to dip 0.5% in 2016, depressed by slower economic growth and coal consumption.

U.S. emissions were projected to fall by 1.7% in 2016, a projection that is also driven by declines in coal consumption, according to the study, which was published in the journal Earth System Science Data.

By contrast, emissions in many emerging economies are still rising. CO2 is the main man-made greenhouse gas blamed for trapping heat, stoking disruptions to world water and food supplies with heat waves, floods, storms and droughts.

The Marrakesh discussions among almost 200 governments, ongoing between Nov. 7 and Nov. 18, have been dominated by uncertainties about future U.S. policy after Trump's victory on Nov. 8.

Trump has called global warming a hoax and wants to pull out of the Paris Agreement for limiting emissions. The agreement was reached in 2015 after two decades of negotiations. Trump wants to instead bolster jobs in the U.S. coal and oil industries.

Still, Peters said natural gas, wind and solar were likely to continue displacing coal in U.S. electricity production, thanks to new technologies and lower prices.

Other scientists welcomed Nov. 14's findings.

"This could be the turning point we have hoped for," David Reay, professor of carbon management at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, said in a statement. He added, "the real Houdini work of freeing our economies from carbon has only just begun."