As of: March 2, 2024, 8:12 a.m
By: Julia Hanigk
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Bad news for the climate: global CO₂ emissions from the energy sector increased in 2023.
Climate change due to droughts is also to blame for this.
Frankfurt – At the end of 2023 there was good news in Germany: it became like this
Fewer greenhouse gases are emitted than have been the case for decades.
The bad news now follows with a global balance sheet from the energy sector.
Things are looking bleak: global CO₂ emissions in the energy sector increased by 1.1 percent last year, reaching a new high.
Global CO₂ emissions increased in 2023
The reason for the increase is, among other things, lower production with hydropower.
But numerous droughts and Chinese economic growth also contributed to this result, according to a
report by the International Energy Agency (IEA)
.
Over the year, the energy sector emitted 37.4 billion tons of CO₂ - around 90 percent of total emissions.
At 410 million tons, the year-on-year increase was at least less strong than in the previous year.
In 2022, 490 million tons more CO₂ were emitted than in 2021.
Droughts in water-rich countries encouraged switching to fossil fuels
More than 40 percent of the increase in emissions was caused by countries with large water reserves, such as China, the United States, India, Canada and elsewhere.
Due to drought, companies have had to switch more than before to alternative and significantly more climate-damaging energy sources such as diesel or coal.
Without the emerging water shortage, global CO₂ emissions from electricity production alone would have fallen last year.
China in particular was responsible for a sharp increase in emissions in 2023.
On the one hand, the economy recovered later after the pandemic than in other countries, but on the other hand, coal consumption in China is high.
India's carbon dioxide emissions also grew while other economies posted record declines.
For the first time in 2023, at least half of the energy produced in advanced economies came from sources such as renewables and nuclear power.
Emissions must fall from 2025
However, the global increase in emissions is alarming.
According to calculations by climate researchers, emissions must peak by 2025 at the latest and then decline from then on so that catastrophic levels of global warming can be prevented.
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Global CO₂ emissions will continue to increase in 2023.
(Symbolic image) © Ardan Fuessmann/IMAGO
The IEA emphasized that at least the expansion of renewable energies is on the right track.
“The transition to clean energy is progressing quickly and slowing emissions – even with global energy demand rising faster in 2023 than in 2022,” emphasized IEA boss Fatih Birol.
China is increasingly relying on renewable energies
Interestingly, in a separate report on renewable energy from the IEA, China also stands out.
A sharp increase in solar and wind energy is documented there.
However, the expansion of renewable energy is “too focused on the advanced economies and China,” while the rest of the world is lagging behind, Birol explained.
(jh/AFP)