The economic recession has led to a drop in  carbon dioxide pollution last year for the first time in a decade. Due to the economic slow down , some factories stopped their operations and more people postponed their holiday plans and did not drive or fly, which  helped a drop in emissions of about 1.3 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to a study published Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

In the United States,  emissions dropped by 7 percent in 2009 mainly because of a slower economy and  better energy efficiency. Worldwide in 2009  34 billion tons  of carbon dioxide were emitted , which was  453 million tons less than the previous year.

Studies have shown a close relation between  the gross domestic product and pollution in recent decades, said study lead author Pierre Friedlingstein of the University of Exeter in England.  Thus, economic recession  too had been good in that it reduced  emissions to the lowest ever levels in a decade!