The energy sector registered a record of CO₂ emissions in 2021 with 36.3 billion tons, “a level never recorded”, due to the reactivation of the world economy and increased use of coal, the International Energy Agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
The increase in 2021, estimated at 2,000 million tons (6% more), is also the largest recorded in history in absolute terms, the agency notes in the note. In 2020, due to the confinements decreed by the coronavirus pandemic, these emissions, the main cause of the greenhouse effect, had been reduced by 5.2%.
Last year’s record was also boosted by weather conditions and rising gas prices, which caused many countries to turn to coal. All this despite the increase in the capacities of renewable energy sources, lamented the IEA.
China, the only economy that registered economic growth in 2020 and 2021, increased its emissions by 750 million tons of CO₂ between 2019 and 2021, mainly due to the increased use of coal for electricity production. In India, the second most populous country in the world, emissions also increased. In contrast, the most advanced economies registered an opposite trend: the emissions of the United States were in 2021 4% lower than their pre-pandemic level of 2019, while in the European Union they were lower by 2.4%.
The energy sector registered a record of CO₂ emissions in 2021 with 36.3 billion tons, “a level never recorded”, due to the reactivation of the world economy and increased use of coal, the International Energy Agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
The increase in 2021, estimated at 2,000 million tons (6% more), is also the largest recorded in history in absolute terms, the agency notes in the note. In 2020, due to the confinements decreed by the coronavirus pandemic, these emissions, the main cause of the greenhouse effect, had been reduced by 5.2%.
Last year’s record was also boosted by weather conditions and rising gas prices, which caused many countries to turn to coal. All this despite the increase in the capacities of renewable energy sources, lamented the IEA.
China, the only economy that registered economic growth in 2020 and 2021, increased its emissions by 750 million tons of CO₂ between 2019 and 2021, mainly due to the increased use of coal for electricity production. In India, the second most populous country in the world, emissions also increased. In contrast, the most advanced economies registered an opposite trend: the emissions of the United States were in 2021 4% lower than their pre-pandemic level of 2019, while in the European Union they were lower by 2.4%.
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