Nina Chestney reports for Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) – Global carbon dioxide emissions from power production flattened last year to 33 gigatonnes after two years of increase, even though the world economy expanded, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.
The growth of renewable energy and fuel switching from coal to natural gas led to lower emissions from advanced economies. Milder weather in several countries and slower economic growth in some emerging markets also contributed, the agency said.
Late last year, international climate experts warned that global temperatures could rise sharply this century with “wide-ranging and destructive” consequences after greenhouse gas emissions hit record levels in 2018.
Governments face a deadline this year to set more ambitious emissions cut targets under the 2015 Paris Agreement, a global climate pact aimed at limiting global warming this century.
“We now need to work hard to make sure that 2019 is remembered as a definitive peak in global emissions, not just another pause in growth,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director.
“We have the energy technologies to do this, and we have to make use of them all,” he said.
The fall in CO2 emissions in advanced economies offset growth elsewhere.
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