Global energy-related CO2 emissions hit new record in 2023

The global emissions of carbon dioxide Energy-related investments increased by 1.1% in 2023 to reach a new record, especially due to the fall in hydroelectric production due to droughts, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

These emissions, which represent around 90% of those caused by man, increased by 410 million tons and reached 37.4 billion the previous year, according to this Paris-based organization.

However, the increase slowed down compared to 2022, when CO2 emissions grew by 490 million tons.

The balance of 2023 was marked by a record decline in global hydroelectric production, linked to the severe and prolonged droughts that affected many regions of the world.

Countries such as China, Canada and Mexico had to resort to polluting means of electricity production such as fuel or coal, which translated into an increase of 170 million tons.

Furthermore, China, which increased its CO2 emissions by 565 million tons, continued to use polluting energy to maintain its growth after the covid-19 crisis.

In contrast, most advanced economies achieved a record drop in emissions and the lowest level of coal use since the beginning of the 20th century without this impacting their GDP development.

Clean energy deployment

The 2023 figures are not going in the right direction to meet the greenhouse gas emissions targets that should make it possible to respect the 1.5 ºC global warming limit provided for in the Paris Agreement.

According to UN experts, emissions should peak before 2025 and fall by 43% compared to 2019 from now to 2030.

But the IEA also highlighted the important contribution of clean energy.

“The transition to clean energy continues rapidly and slows emissions, even with global energy demand that grew more in 2023 than in 2022.”said its executive director Fatih Birol.

Although the increase in energy-related emissions between 2019 and 2023 was 900 million tons, the figure would have been three times higher without the deployment of five key technologies: solar, wind and nuclear energy, heat pumps and electric vehicles.

The agency also published on Friday a report specifically dedicated to the clean energy market that notes a strong increase in solar and wind power.

But this deployment is “too concentrated on advanced economies and China”, with the rest of the world trailing behind.

“We need much greater efforts to enable emerging and developing economies to increase their investments in clean energy.”