Global CO2 emissions expected to grow by less than 1% this year thanks to renewable energies, says international agency

Global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels are expected to rise by just under 1% this year thanks to the expansion of renewable energy and electric vehicles, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

CO2 emissions are expected to increase by nearly 300 million tonnes to 33.8 billion tonnes this year, a much smaller increase than the jump of nearly 2 billion tonnes in 2021, the agency said in a report.

This year’s increase was driven by power generation and the aviation sector as air travel recovers from the lows of the pandemic.

While this increase could have been much higher, possibly 1 billion tonnes, with countries’ coal demand rising amid soaring gas prices due to the Ukrainian War, the roll-out of renewable energy and electric vehicles have slowed the rise. of emissions.

“The global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a rush by many countries to use other energy sources to replace the natural gas supply that Russia has withheld from the market,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA.

“The encouraging news is that solar and wind power are filling much of the gap, with the rise in coal appearing to be relatively small and temporary,” he added.

According to the report, solar PV and wind are leading a rise in global renewable electricity generation of more than 700 terawatt hours (TWh). Without that increase, global CO2 emissions would have been more than 600 million tons higher this year.

Despite droughts in several regions, global hydropower production increases year on year, contributing more than a fifth of the expected growth in renewable energy.