IEA: Carbon Dioxide emissions 2022

The International Energy Agency recently issued a report on 2022 global energy related CO2 emissions. Last year saw another record high in CO2, with 36.8 gigatonnes (Gt) emitted to the atmosphere.

They try to put a happy face on some of this news, saying it was “not as high as some had originally feared amid the disruptions caused by the global energy crisis.” However, it cannot be denied that the world is putting more CO2 into the atmosphere than ever before.

Some of the highlights, as I see them, from the link below…

Global energy-related CO 2 emissions grew by 0.9% or 321 Mt in 2022, reaching a new high of over 36.8 Gt.

Emissions from natural gas fell by 1.6% or 118 Mt, following continued tightening of supply exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Increased emissions from coal more than offset reductions from natural gas. Amid a wave of gas-to-coal switching during the global energy crisis, CO2 emissions from coal grew by 1.6% or 243 Mt

Emissions from oil grew even more than emissions from coal, rising by 2.5% or 268 Mt to 11.2 Gt.

Almost 25 years since the Kyoto Protocol, as well as many UN and IPCC conferences and meetings in the following years, including the 2015 Paris Agreement, I think it is time to admit we are on the wrong path to reducing the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. When the Kyoto Protocol was agreed to in late 1997, the atmospheric CO2 concentration was 366 ppm and the world was emitting 24 Gt per year. Last year, the average concentration was 418 ppm and almost 37 Gt was emitted.

I don’t have all of the answers, but I do know that past and current policies are woefully inadequate, if we want to be serious about it.

  • Pete
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