In its recent report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has highlighted a concerning trend: global energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) surged to an all-time high in 2023. This alarming increase was primarily fueled by heightened fossil fuel consumption, particularly in regions where droughts severely hindered hydropower production. The IEA underscored the critical need for significant reductions in CO2 emissions, predominantly stemming from the combustion of fossil fuels, in the forthcoming years to align with the targets outlined in the Paris Agreement.
Despite the urgent calls from scientists to swiftly reduce emissions to curb the global temperature rise and avert catastrophic climate change, the reality paints a starkly different picture. Instead of witnessing a rapid decline, as mandated by the Paris Agreement, CO2 emissions have stubbornly ascended to unprecedented levels, as highlighted by the IEA’s findings.
The IEA’s analysis revealed that global emissions from energy sources escalated by a staggering 410 million tonnes, equating to a 1.1% increase, reaching a daunting total of 37.4 billion tonnes in 2023. This upward trajectory in emissions underscores the pressing need for comprehensive and immediate actions to curb carbon emissions and mitigate the dire impacts of climate change on a global scale.
A global expansion in clean technology such as wind, solar and electric vehicles helped to curb emissions growth, which was 1.3% in 2022. But a reopening of China’s economy, increased fossil fuel use in countries with low hydropower output and a recovery in the aviation sector led to an overall rise, the IEA said in its report.
Moves to replace lost hydropower generation due to extreme droughts accounted for around 40% of the emissions rise, or 170 million tonnes of CO2, it said.
“Without this effect, emissions from the global electricity sector would have fallen in 2023,” the IEA said.
Energy-related emissions in the United States fell by 4.1% with the bulk of the reduction coming from the electricity sector, according to the report.
In the European Union emissions from energy fell by almost 9% last year driven by a surge in renewable power generation and a slump in both coal and gas power generation.
In China, emissions from energy rose by 5.2%, with energy demand growing as the country recovered from COVID-19-related lockdowns, the report said.
China, however, also contributed around 60% of global additions of solar, wind power and electric vehicles in 2023, the IEA said.
Globally electric vehicles accounted for one-in-five new car sales in 2023, reaching 14 million and up 35% on the level of 2022.
