One of the real "inconvenient truths" besides the historical correlation between carbon dioxide and global warming is the economic correlation between GDP growth and the emission of greenhouse gasses. This is a truism throughout the history of industrial civilization regardless of whether the economy in question was capitalist or communist. The problem, which Heinberg recognizes, is that under both systems money is predicated on infinite growth. Unless you change the way money works, you change nothing.

There appears to be a causal link between growth and energy usage (though plenty would argue that point - with some valid points), but it's more correct IMO to say that this greater energy usage has historically been tied to greater carbon/GHG emissions.

The first link may or may not be fixable, but the second surely is. We can produce more power with less carbon/GHG.