Global CO2 emissions to rebound to second-highest in history in 2021, warns IEA

Ahead of the Climate Summit scheduled for April 22 and 23 that will bring together 40 world leaders to galvanize efforts to tackle global climate change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued a dire warning about the CO2 emission. In its annual Global Energy Review report published on Tuesday, the agency warned that the climate-changing CO2 emissions are set to surge at the second-highest levels in history in 2021 as the countries recover from the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. CO2 emissions in 2021 will surge by 5% this year to 33 billion tons, IEA said. While the carbon footprint is expected to remain below the 2019 level, the energy demands are expected to go up this year, surpassing the 2019 levels with a boost in demand for nonrenewable energy resources such as gas and coal. 

"Global carbon emissions are set to jump by 1.5 billion tonnes this year driven by the resurgence of coal use in the power sector," the IEA's Executive Director, Fatih Birol, said in a statement released by IEA. "This is a dire warning that the economic recovery from the Covid crisis is currently anything but sustainable for our climate,’ he continued.

“Unless governments around the world move rapidly to start cutting emissions, we are likely to face an even worse situation in 2022,” Birol warned.

[Credit: IEA]

[Credit: IEA]

According to IEA, there will be an estimated 4.5 percent jump in coal demand, which will be attributed as the biggest reason singularly for the rise of CO2 emissions, which will be an all-time highest since 2014. The economic activity and energy use are rebounding in countries around the world in 2021, IEA said, adding that this has created a rebound in energy demands in 2021. This risks pushing CO2 emissions to a new high, the agency explained. 

“Global economic output is expected to rebound by 6 percent in 2021, pushing the global GDP more than 2 percent higher than 2019 levels,” according to the estimate by IEA.

60 percent surge in coal demand

Global energy demand is set to increase by 4.6% in 2021, more than offsetting the 4 percent contraction in 2020 and pushing demand 0.5 percent above 2019 levels. Almost 70% of the projected increase in global energy demand has been found to be in emerging markets of the developing economies, where the demand is set to rise to 3.4 percent. Demands for fossil fuel such as coal are expected to increase by 60 percent more than all renewables combined, IEA said, adding that this will lead to a 5 percent, or 1 500 Mt surge in CO2 emission. More than 80 percent of the growth in coal demands is concentrated in Asia. “Electricity demand is due to increase by 4.5 percent in 2021, or over 1 000 TWh, this is almost five times greater than the decline in 2020,” IEA warned. 

[Credit: IEA; Story image: Unsplash]