CLIMATE GOALS AT RISK AS POLLUTION UP AGAIN

Energy emissions higher last year than in 2019, driven by economic recovery and lack of policies

GLOBAL carbon dioxide emissions have returned to pre-pandemic levels and then some, threatening to put climate treaty targets for capping global warming out of reach, the International Energy Agency said yesterday.

Energy-related emissions were two per cent higher in December last year than in the same month a year earlier, driven by economic recovery and a lack of clean energy policies, the IEA said.

“The rebound in global carbon emissions toward the end of last year is a stark warning that not enough is being done to accelerate clean energy transitions worldwide,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said.

“If governments don’t move quickly with the right energy policies, this could put at risk the world’s historic opportunity to make 2019 the definitive peak in global emissions.”

A year ago, the intergovernmental agency called on governments to put clean energy at the heart of economic stimulus plans, but the appeal appears to have fallen on deaf ears for the most part.

“Our numbers show we are returning to carbon-intensive business-as-usual,” Birol said.

In China, carbon pollution last year exceeded 2019 levels by more than half a per cent despite a draconian, though brief, lockdown to halt the virus’ spread.

China — which accounts for more than a quarter of global carbon dioxide output — was the only major economy to grow last year. Other countries are also now seeing emissions climb above pre-Covid crisis levels, the report found.

In India, they rose above 2019 levels from September as economic activity increased and Covid restrictions relaxed.

The rebound of road transport in Brazil from May drove a recovery in oil demand, while increases in gas demand toward the end of last year had pushed emissions above 2019 levels in the final quarter.

US emissions fell by 10 per cent last year, but by December, they were approaching levels from the year before.

“If current expectations for a global economic rebound this year are confirmed — and in the absence of major policy changes in the world’s largest economies — global emissions are likely to increase in 2021,” Birol said.

China’s surprise commitment to become carbon neutral by 2060, the Biden administration’s ambitious climate agenda along with the US reentry into the Paris Agreement, and the European Union’s Green New Deal all point in the right direction, he said.

“India’s stunning success with renewables could also transform its energy future,” he added.