Global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions saw a moderated rise in 2023 compared to the previous year, despite accelerated total energy demand growth, according to new analysis from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The expansion of clean energy technologies such as solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, nuclear power, and electric cars played a crucial role in averting greater reliance on fossil fuels.
Emissions increased by 410 million tonnes, or 1.1%, in 2023, compared to a rise of 490 million tonnes in the preceding year, reaching a record level of 37.4 billion tonnes.
Exceptional droughts severely impacted hydropower output, leading to over 40% of the emissions rise as countries turned to fossil fuel alternatives to compensate.
However, without this shortfall in hydropower, global CO2 emissions from electricity generation would have declined, mitigating the overall rise in energy-related emissions, according to the IEA.
Notably, advanced economies experienced a record decline in CO2 emissions in 2023 despite GDP growth, reaching a 50-year low.
Factors contributing to this decline included robust deployment of renewables, coal-to-gas switching, energy efficiency enhancements and softer industrial production.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said: “A pandemic, an energy crisis and geopolitical instability all had the potential to derail efforts to build cleaner and more secure energy systems.
“Instead, we’ve seen the opposite in many economies. The clean energy transition is continuing apace and reining in emissions – even with global energy demand growing more strongly in 2023 than in 2022.
“The commitments made by nearly 200 countries at COP28 in Dubai in December show what the world needs to do to put emissions on a downward trajectory. Most importantly, we need far greater efforts to enable emerging and developing economies to ramp up clean energy investment.”
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