Global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
rose less strongly in 2023 than the year before, even as total
energy demand growth accelerated, with continued expansion of
solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, nuclear power and electric cars
helping the world avoid greater use of fossil fuels. Without clean
energy technologies, the global increase in CO2 emissions in the
past five years would have been three times greater, the
International Energy Agency (IEA) said in one of its reports.
Emissions increased by 410-million tons, or 1.1%, in
2023, compared with a 490-million-tonne increase in 2022,
taking emissions to a record level of 37.4-billion tons.
Specifically, an exceptional shortfall in hydropower owing to
extreme droughts in China, the US and several other economies
resulted in more than 40% of the rise in emissions in 2023, as
countries turned largely to fossil fuel alternatives to plug the gap.
“Had it not been for the unusually low hydropower output,
global CO2 emissions from electricity generation would have
declined in 2023 and made the overall rise in energy-related
emissions significantly smaller,” the report pointed out.
Additionally, advanced economies saw a record fall in their CO2
emissions in 2023 even as their gross domestic product (GDP)
grew. Advanced economies’ emissions dropped to a 50-year low
while coal demand fell back to levels not seen since the early
1900s. The decline in advanced economies’ emissions was
driven by a combination of strong renewables deployment,
coal-to-gas switching, energy efficiency improvements and softer
industrial production.
Internet:<www.engineeringnews.co.za/> (adapted).