IEA sees record energy sector emissions in 2017

Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions – the largest source of man-made greenhouse gas emissions – increased 1.4% in 2017 to reach a historic high of 32.5 billion tonnes, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced. The increase followed three consecutive years of emissions remaining flat.

The increase in carbon emissions “was the result of robust global economic growth of 3.7%, lower fossil fuel prices and weaker energy efficiency efforts”, the IEA said in its newly-published Global Energy and CO2 Status Report 2017.

Fatih Birol, IEA executive director, said: “The robust global economy pushed up energy demand last year, which was mostly met by fossil fuels, while renewables made impressive strides. The significant growth in global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2017 tells us that current efforts to combat climate change are far from sufficient. For example, there has been a dramatic slowdown in the rate of improvement in global energy efficiency as policy makers have put less focus in this area.”

Energy demand worldwide increased by 2.1% in 2017, according to IEA preliminary estimates. This compares with 0.9% in 2016 and 0.9% on average over the previous five years. Global energy demand in 2017 reached an estimated 14,050 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe), compared with 10,035 million toe in 2000.