CO2 emissions and economic growth decoupling?

The IEA announced that global CO2 emissions were 32.3 billion tonnes in 2014, the same as 2013.  Still, global GNP grew 3%.  Apparently this is due largely to increased gas substitution in the USA, higher efficiencies in China, China's reduction in coal consumption, and Germany's increase in renewables and energy efficiency.  

This is significant because CO2 emissions has always risen with economic growth worldwide.  The only times CO2 emissions have dropped have been during times of economic recession.  Of course, Germany has shown for years that economic growth and GHG emissions are decoupled, but it is quite significant to show this in a global context.