(ANSA) - ROME, MARCH 08 - Global emissions of carbon dioxide linked to energy in 2021 rebounded to the highest level in history, registering a + 6% to 36.3 billion tons due to the recovery of the world economy which used a lot of coal after the Covid-19 crisis.
This is stated in a new analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The increase in global CO2 emissions of more than 2 billion tons, explains the IEA, "was the largest in history in absolute terms, which more than offset the reduction caused by the pandemic the previous year".
The use of coal for electricity generation in 2021 was intensified by record natural gas prices, the Agency said in noting that this has happened despite the past year renewable energy sources and nuclear energy have provided a larger share of production. global dielectricity.
Generation from clean sources reached an all-time high surpassing 8,000 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2021,500 TWh above the 2020 level. Wind and solar PV generation increased by 270TWh and 170 TWh respectively, while hydroelectric generation decreased. due to the effects of drought, particularly in the United States and Brazil.
This strong growth in global CO2 emissions was largely driven by China, where they increased by 750 million tons between 2019 and 2021, more than offsetting the aggregate decline in the rest of the world over the same period.
China, recalls the IEA, was the only large economy to record economic growth in both 2020 and 2021.
In 2021 alone, its CO2 emissions increased over 11.9 billion tons, representing 33% of the global total. .
(HANDLE).