Global CO2 Emissions Rise Held to Under 1% This Year
Finally, some encouraging news in the fight against greenhouse gases: CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels are expected to rise by less than 1% this year.
This is despite widespread fears of a return to coal, oil, and gas in the face of a global energy crisis and Russia's war in Ukraine. We can thank electric vehicles and increased use of renewables for the surprisingly small increase.
The International Energy Agency published its forecast in a report on Wednesday October 19th, 2022, indicating that CO2 emissions will rise by 300 million metric tonnes in 2022, reaching 33.8 billion tonnes. This is a much smaller increase than the nearly 2 billion tonnes seen in 2021 as the world recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The increase this year comes largely from the aviation sector, which was severely impacted by the pandemic. According to the IEA, if renewables and electric vehicles had not been widely deployed around the world, the increase in emissions would have been much larger, potentially reaching 1 billion tonnes.
The world has hit record growth this year in solar and wind power, generating more than 700 terawatt-hours of energy. That’s enough to power around 67 million American homes for a year. According to the IEA, if we continue to make these changes and decrease emissions, hitting the 1.5-degree goal is attainable.
