Energy-related CO2 emissions still high, but significant clean energy deployment has limited growth - IEA

In 2023, global energy-related CO2 emissions increased, but less than a year earlier, due to the widespread use of solar, wind, and electric vehicles, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report released on March 1, UNN reports.

Without clean energy technologies, the global increase in CO2 emissions over the past five years would have been three times higher

Details

The increase in emissions in 2023 was reportedly 410 million tons, or 1.1%, down from the previous year's 490 million tons increase. The extreme shortage of hydropower due to extreme droughts led to an increase in emissions of more than 40%. If not for the extremely low level of hydropower production, global CO2 emissions from electricity generation would have declined last year, making the overall increase in energy-related emissions much smaller, the IEA stated.

Developed economies reportedly saw a record decline in CO2 emissions last year, despite GDP growth. Emissions fell to a 50-year low, and demand for coal fell to levels not seen since the early 1900s. This was the result of the introduction of renewable energy sources, the switch to gas, increased energy efficiency, and reduced industrial emissions. In 2023, for the first time, the majority of electricity in developed economies was generated from low-emission sources such as renewables and nuclear power, the IEA noted.

In China, the deployment of clean energy technologies reportedly continues to grow rapidly, with new solar photovoltaic capacity in 2023 increasing by the same amount as the total amount built globally in 2022. However, a bad year for hydropower generation and the subsequent economic recovery from the pandemic led to a rise in emissions in China, which increased by about 565 million tons in 2023.

In 2023, strong GDP growth in India led to an increase in CO2 emissions of about 190 million tons. A relatively weak monsoon increased demand for electricity and reduced hydropower production, which caused a quarter of the overall increase in emissions in India. However, per capita CO2 emissions remain significantly lower than the global average.

Addendum

In the period from 2019 to 2023, the growth of clean energy was twice as high as the growth of fossil fuel use. A new IEA analysis shows that thanks to the introduction of clean energy technologies over the past five years, demand for fossil fuels has declined significantly, creating conditions for an accelerated phase-out over the next decade.

In recent years, according to the report, the deployment of wind and solar power in electricity systems around the world has avoided the use of coal equivalent to the electricity consumption of the Indian and Indonesian sectors combined and reduced demand for natural gas. The growing number of electric vehicles on the road, accounting for one in five new car sales worldwide in 2023, has also significantly reduced demand for oil in energy use, keeping it at pre-pandemic levels, the IEA said.

However, monitoring of the clean energy market shows that clean energy deployment remains overly concentrated in developed economies and China, which underscores the need for greater international efforts to increase clean energy investment and deployment in developing countries.

For reference

The report's global CO2 emissions figures are based on detailed analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) by region and fuel type, based on the latest official national data and publicly available energy, economic and meteorological data. Sources include the latest monthly data submitted to the IEA Energy Data Center, real-time data from grid operators around the world, statistical releases from national administrations, and the latest data from IEA market reports. The CO2 emissions report covers emissions from all energy combustion and industrial processes. Information on the deployment of clean technologies comes from the latest national sources, supplemented by data from industry associations. Oil demand covers the total energy supply from crude oil and petroleum products, converted to energy terms using specific conversion factors.