Last year, the rich countries had the lowest energy CO2 emissions in fifty years. Developed economies benefited from further wind and solar energy growth, swapped coal for gas more often, and saved on energy consumption.

In a new report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) points out that countries must help weaker economies because the amount of fossil energy is much higher there.

According to the IEA, the new data show that the energy transition is moving in the right direction and continues even during a pandemic and geopolitical tensions. “But most importantly, there will be many more initiatives to help emerging and developing economies increase their investments in clean energy,” IEA CEO Fatih Birol said. “The use of clean energy remains too concentrated in the advanced economies and China,” the agency concluded.

Global energy CO2 emissions increased by 1.1 percent (+410 million tons) last year to a new record high of  37.4 billion tons in 2023. This is partly the result of the significantly reduced hydroelectric production: energy generation suffered greatly from the drought last year.

As a result, hydropower yielded much less, meaning that more fossil fuels were needed to compensate for this loss. Chinese growth also led to more emissions.

Transition to clean energy

The good news is that the increase is less pronounced than the year before. “The transition to clean energy is continuing rapidly and curbing emissions, even with global energy demand rising faster in 2023 than in 2022,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said.

According to the agency, energy-related emissions may have increased by around 900 million tons between 2019 and 2023. Still, that figure would have been three times as high without solar energy, wind energy, nuclear energy, heat pumps, and electric cars.

More emissions in China and India

China and India, in particular, emitted more CO2 when generating energy last year, partly due to the drought. In China, emissions increased by 565 million tons, also due to the country’s further reopening after long-term coronavirus restrictions.

However, China is also the largest producer of green energy sources, such as solar panels. More than 1 gigawatt of solar power was added every day. In India, the increase in CO2 emissions was 190 million tons. Per capita emissions there are still much lower than the global average.