Emissions of CO2 from energy use rose by 1.1pc in 2023, slowing from a 1.3pc increase in 2022 but reaching their highest levels on record, the IEA said today.
Global energy-related CO2 emissions rose by 410mn t year on year in 2023 to a new all-time high of 37.4bn t, according to IEA analysis published today.
Some 70pc of the increase was a result of higher coal burn, which led to 270mn t of additional CO2 emissions in 2023 compared with a year earlier, the IEA found. Emissions from coal combustion grew particularly in China and India.
China recorded "by far" the largest actual increase in energy-related CO2 emissions, the IEA said, rising by 565mn t, or 4.7pc, as the country's economy continued to reopen following the restrictions put in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and poor conditions limited hydropower generation.
Global electricity sector emissions would have declined on the year in 2023 had drought conditions in many regions not led to a record decline in global hydropower production, increasing CO2 from power generation by 170mn t, the IEA said.
But milder weather limited global emissions by around 120mn t, with the small increase in cooling demand outweighed by the fall in heating demand.
Energy-related CO2 emissions in advanced economies fell by 520mn t, or 4.5pc, in 2023. This was principally a result of firm renewables deployment, coal-to-gas switching in the US, lower industrial production and warmer weather, the IEA said. US emissions fell by 190mn t, or 4.1pc, while the EU's emissions declined by 220mn t, or 9pc.
Advanced economy GDP rose by 1.7pc over the same period, the IEA stressed, making this the largest percentage decrease in advanced economy emissions outside a recessionary period.
Half of all electricity generation in advanced economies came from renewables and nuclear for the first time in 2023, the IEA found, while the contribution of coal burn fell to an all-time low of 17pc.
The rise in emissions over 2019-23 would have been three times higher without increased deployment of the five "key clean energy technologies" of solar, wind and nuclear power, heat pumps, and electric cars, the IEA found in a companion report also published today.
