Good news from IEA: CO2 emissions to grow less in 2022 than last year

If last March we reported that "Global CO2 emissions returned to the highest level in history" new analysis by the IEA International Energy Agency showed yesterday that global CO2 emissions emissions from fossil fuel combustion are expected to grow by just under 1% this year, only a small fraction of their increase last year, as a strong expansion of renewables and electric vehicles prevents a much sharper rise. That’s despite this year’s increase is driven by power generation and by the aviation sector, as air travel rebounds from pandemic lows. And widespread concerns of a rush back to coal, oil and gas amid a global energy crunch and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Solar PV and wind are leading an increase in global renewable electricity generation in 2022 of more than 700 terawatt-hours (TWh), the largest annual rise on record. Without this increase, global CO2 emissions would be more than 600 million tonnes higher this year. And despite the challenging situation that hydropower has faced in several regions due to droughts this year, global hydropower output is up year-on-year, contributing over one-fifth of the expected growth in renewable power. 

The article concludes that “… promising signs of lasting structural changes to the CO2 intensity of global energy are evident in 2022 – and they are set to be reinforced by major increases in government support for clean energy investment, notably in the US Inflation Reduction Act, as well as in decarbonisation plans such as the European Union’s Fit for 55 package and Japan’s Green Transformation (GX) plan, and in ambitious clean energy targets in China and India.”

Check our blog some previous posts about these efforts:

• United States, “$369 billion clean-energy plan. Here is a summary of the recently approved US Climate Bill.”

• Japan, “The race to carbon capture tech, the new Industrial Revolution”

• European Union “Fit for 55 package: EU unveils sweeping climate change plan”

• China “Blazing a trail: China's path to a green transition”

• India, “ESG / Sustainability reporting standard for listed companies”

We add Brasil, with references to some proposed bills .

Click on the image below for yesterday’s IEA article itself, including the information that the “World Energy Outlook 2022” will be released on 27 October.