The energy sector saw a lower-than-anticipated increase of 0.9% in global carbon dioxide emissions last year, as the expanded use of clean energy sources like solar, wind, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and energy efficiency measures helped to offset the impact of greater coal and oil usage during the worldwide energy crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday.
According to a CO2 emissions analysis for 2022, emissions still remain on an unsustainable growth trajectory, following a 6% increase in 2021 and despite a much smaller increase last year.
The Global Energy Transitions Stocktake is the first freely accessible report that brings together the IEA's most recent analysis in a new series to support the first global stocktake in the run-up to the COP28 Climate Change Conference in November.
The report found that with a 0.9% increase in 2022, equivalent to 321 million tons, global energy-related CO2 emissions reached a new high of over 36.8 billion tons.
Nonetheless, the rise in emissions remained lower than global economic growth of 3.2%, 'signaling a return to a decade-long trend that was interrupted in 2021 by the rapid and emissions-intensive economic rebound from the COVID-19 crisis,' the IEA said.
As a result of a variety of factors, including extreme weather events and an unusually large number of nuclear power plants being shut down, increased deployment of clean energy technologies prevented an additional 550 million tons of emissions.
'The impacts of the energy crisis did not 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,' Fatih Birol, IEA executive director, said in the report.
'Without clean energy, the growth in CO2 emissions would have been nearly three times as high,' he said, warning that emissions are still growing from fossil fuels, hindering efforts to meet the world's climate targets.
Emissions from gas, oil
Birol noted that international and national fossil fuel companies that are making record revenues need to take their share of responsibility in line with their public pledges to meet climate goals.
'It is critical that they review their strategies to make sure they’re aligned with meaningful emissions reductions,' he said.
The report revealed that CO2 emissions from coal increased by 1.6% as the energy crisis led to the continuation of gas-to-coal switching in Asia and, to a lesser degree, in Europe.
The rise in emissions from coal more than offset the 1.6% drop in emissions from natural gas. Gas-to-coal switching and tightened supply resulted in cuts in gas use, particularly in Europe, reflecting in gas-related CO2 emissions.
CO2 emissions from oil increased by 2.5% but still remained below pre-pandemic levels, the IEA said. The aviation sector accounted for about half of the year-on-year increases in oil-related CO2 emissions as air travel continued to rebound from the pandemic.
Renewables, mild winter
CO2 emissions in China remained flat last year due to slower economic growth and reductions in industrial and transport emissions as a result of strict COVID-19 measures.
Emissions from Asia's emerging and developing economies, excluding China, increased by 4.2%, reflecting their rapid economic and energy demand growth, the IEA said.
'The European Union's emissions fell by 2.5%, thanks to record deployment of renewables helping ensure the use of coal was not as high as some observers had anticipated. A mild start to the European winter and energy savings measures in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine also contributed,' the report said.
Emissions in the US increased by 0.8% due to increased consumption in buildings attempting to cope with extreme temperatures.