Continued Rise in Carbon Emissions Offset by Renewable Energy Surge, IEA Says

A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says energy-related carbon dioxide emissions around the world reached a record high last year due to the increased use of fossil fuels like oil and coal, but the impact was offset by an increase in green technology.

With the expansion of solar, wind, electric vehicles (EVs) and other clean technology helping to limit the impacts of increased fossil fuel use during the global energy crisis, emissions rose by 0.9 percent, according to a press release from the IEA.

“The impacts of the energy crisis didn’t result in the major increase in global emissions that was initially feared – and this is thanks to the outstanding growth of renewables, EVs, heat pumps and energy efficient technologies. Without clean energy, the growth in CO2 emissions would have been nearly three times as high,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in the press release.

Scientists have said there’s no getting around big reductions in the burning of fossil fuels in order to limit global heating.

The IEA report — CO2 Emissions in 2022 — made it clear that, although last year’s increase in emissions was less than the six percent seen the previous year, the present emissions growth trajectory was not sustainable, and stronger measures would be needed to speed up the transition to clean energy.

The report is the first in the new series, the Global Energy Transitions Stocktake, which will gather up-to-date IEA analysis and make it accessible for the initial Global Stocktake in the months prior to November’s COP28 Climate Change Conference.

Carbon dioxide emissions worldwide increased by 353.8 million tons last year to reach an all-time high of more than 40.57 billion tons, the report says. Global economic growth was faster than the rise in emissions at 3.2 percent.

The rise in emissions was caused in part by heat waves and droughts, plus more nuclear power plants being offline than usual, according to the press release. But the rise in the use of clean energy technologies meant the planet was saved from 606 million tons of added emissions.

“However, we still see emissions growing from fossil fuels, hindering efforts to meet the world’s climate targets. International and national fossil fuel companies are making record revenues and need to take their share of responsibility, in line with their public pledges to meet climate goals. It’s critical that they review their strategies to make sure they’re aligned with meaningful emissions reductions,” Birol said in the press release.

Carbon dioxide emissions from coal went up 1.6 percent last year, well above the average growth rate of the past decade. Carbon emissions from oil went up 2.5 percent — still less than pre-pandemic levels — about half of which was caused by an increase in air travel following the pandemic.

In order to paint a full picture of last year’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, the IEA report includes information on nitrous oxide and methane emissions, in addition to carbon dioxide emissions from all industrial processes and energy combustion.