Never before has energy production produced so much CO2 emissions as in 2021. This is an increase of 6 percent compared to a year earlier. This is reported by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
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CO2 emissions rose 6 percent in 2021 to 36.3 billion tons, “the highest level ever,” according to the IEA. In 2020, when the corona pandemic hit hard, the sector’s CO2 emissions had fallen to an unprecedented extent (-5.2 percent). But the economic recovery in 2021 and increased coal use more than offset that decline.
Coal accounted for 40 percent of the increase. CO2 emissions from coal rose to a record 15.3 billion tons. CO2 emissions from natural gas also exceeded the 2019 level at 7.5 billion tons. On the other hand, CO2 emissions from oil (10.7 billion tons) are still below pre-crisis levels, because, for example, the transport sector and aviation have not yet fully recovered from the corona crisis.
“The figures show that the global economic recovery has not been the sustainable recovery the IEA advocated at the start of the corona pandemic,” the agency said.
The energy sector is the main emitter of greenhouse gases.
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