OFFS - 1 Day After Record-High CO2 Emissions Reported For 2022, IEA Calls "GHG Plateau"
Global carbon dioxide emissions are still rising but may at least be reaching a plateau, research from the International Energy Agency has shown. CO2 from energy – by far the biggest source of emissions – increased by less than 1% in 2022. This was despite the turmoil in energy the markets caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The rise is smaller than the 6% increase in emissions from energy recorded by the IEA in 2021, a leap that came on the back of the rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic. However, a 7% reduction is needed every year to meet the goal of halving emissions this decade.
Many experts had feared the soaring price of gas could push countries back towards using coal, which has much higher carbon emissions. But renewable energy seems to have been a big beneficiary, as countries opted for solar and wind power, and encouraged the take-up of heat pumps and electric vehicles (EVs). A mild start to Europe’s winter also helped to save energy across the EU. Even a small increase in greenhouse gas emissions takes the world much further away from the path to net zero , the goal needed to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
EDIT
The IEA found global energy-related CO2 emissions grew in 2022 by 0.9%, or 321m tonnes, reaching a new high of more than 36.8bn tonnes. It noted that this rate was below that of economic growth, suggesting countries were successfully “decoupling” economic growth from emissions.
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/02/co2-emissions-may-be-starting-to-plateau-global-energy-watchdog-iea
