Global carbon emissions from energy use climbed to a record high last year, as demand for energy grew at its fastest pace this decade.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), a聽watchdog organisation, said that economic growth and the weather drove emissions from burning fuel, for example to generate electricity or to聽power vehicles,聽up 1.7 per cent to a new high of 33 gigatonnes. The increase is equivalent to the emissions from all air travel doubling in a single year.
These are the first official confirmation that emissions from energy use have risen for two years in a row. It now appears that a聽plateau between 2014 and 2016, which had raised hopes that action on climate change was altering the long-term upward trend, was a blip.
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鈥淥ne could take a negative stance and say we鈥檙e doing everything wrong. I think it鈥檚 not as bad as the absolute number suggests. It could have been higher,鈥� says Laura Cozzi, the IEA鈥檚 chief energy modeller.
Switching from coal to gas power stations, which emit less carbon, played聽a role in dampening down the rise in emissions, while nuclear power also had a good year as new Chinese plants came online. And there was strong growth in renewable energy sources, which met 45 per cent of the increase聽in electricity generation in 2018.
But the speed of change is not enough, says Cozzi. 鈥淲e are putting the accent on the right policies but they are not going strongly enough,鈥� she says.
Overall, the world鈥檚 appetite for energy was up 2.3 per cent, the biggest increase this decade. While the use of all fuels grew, natural gas was the big winner, meeting 45 per cent of the growth in demand.
Glen Peters at the Center for International Climate Research in Norway estimates that, based on economic growth predictions, total carbon聽emissions will rise again in 2019 by around 1.5 per cent.
鈥淲e now have 30 years of climate negotiations, 30 years of climate reports, the Paris Agreement is approaching 4 years old, and emissions keep growing. It is blatantly obvious that what countries are collectively doing is far from enough,鈥� he says.
