Greenhouse gas emissions from energy hit a record high last year as demand for fossil fuels rose despite a big increase in renewable power, according to a report published yesterday.
Energy emissions increased two per cent in 2023 to 40 giga tonnes of CO2 equivalent for the first time, according to the Energy Institute’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy. “Clean energy is still not even meeting the entirety of demand growth,” said Nick Wayth, chief executive of the London-based Energy Institute. “Arguably, the energy transition has not even started.”
Wayth highlighted the lopsided progress in the shift to renewable electricity generation, which rose 13% from 2022 to a record 4,748 tera watt hours. Fossil fuel use rose in high-growth countries such as India, but there were signs that demand had peaked in Europe, the US, and other advanced countries.
The report said global primary energy use climbed two per cent to a record 620 exajoules — 1 EJ is equivalent to about 170 mn barrels of oil. Fossil fuels’ share in the energy mix dipped slightly by 0.4 percentage points to 81.5%. Its proportion was 86% in 1995.
The share of fossil fuels in Europe’s energy mix fell below 70% for the first time since the industrial revolution, as the continent cut its reliance on Russian gas and weaned itself off coal.
In the US, coal consumption fell 17%, helping to push the country’s overall fossil fuel use down two percentage points to just over 80% of primary energy consumption. India’s use of fossil fuels climbed eight per cent, with its coal consumption overtaking the combined use in North America and Europe for the first time.
In China, which accounts for about 30 per cent of global energy, fossil fuel use rose six per cent to a high of 139 EJ. But China has rolled out renewables, with its new solar and wind capacity accounting for 63 per cent of global installations.