2023 CO2 Emissions From Power Generation Hit Record Levels, but the Rate of Increase Is at a Historic Low

Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions hit record levels in 2023, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), with the increases coming from some regions having to resort to using fossil fuels out of necessity. However, the report also states that despite the record-high output recorded last year, the rate of global emissions growth has slowed to a level not seen since the 1970s, primarily due to the widespread adoption of renewable energy sources.

The IEA’s March report, titled CO2 Emissions in 2023: A new record high, but is there light at the end of the tunnel? documents the state of carbon emissions from global power generation in 2023, both for consumer electrical purposes and industrial processes. CO2 emissions rose in 2023 by 1.1 percent—410 million metric tons—over the previous year, with an estimated total of 37.4 billion tons of the greenhouse gas being released into the atmosphere overall.

Forty percent of the hike in 2023’s emissions was caused by shortfalls in hydroelectric power generation due to ongoing droughts in some countries, with the affected regions falling back on fossil fuel generators to make up for the shortfall.

For instance, India faced a decrease in the amount of precipitation typically delivered by the seasonal monsoons, leading to lower reservoir levels, with the resulting increase in fossil fuel generator use causing a seven percent increase in carbon emissions from the country.

And despite being a leader in green energy production, China’s emissions increased by 5.2 percent to 12.6 billion tons; like India, China saw increased energy demand due to post-pandemic recovery efforts.

Conversely, emissions from advanced economies fell 4.5 percent to a level not seen since the mid 1970s, due to the increasing adoption of renewable energy sources, milder weather in some regions and lower demand due to improved efficiencies. A combination of renewables and nuclear power accounted for half of all power generation in these countries, with renewables alone accounting for more than two-thirds of the total;  meanwhile, coal use fell to just 17 percent, a historic low.

The United States saw emissions drop 4.1 percent due to increased use of renewables and natural gas, while experiencing a 2.5 percent growth in the nation’s economy; although the European Union only saw modest economic growth, the bloc managed to reduce emissions by almost nine percent, due to a reduction of both coal and gas-based power generation.

The report calls for an increased effort from the international community to help improve the emissions of emerging economies’ power systems, and touts clean energy as the driving force behind the improvements seen in carbon emissions reductions.

“The clean energy transition has undergone a series of stress tests in the last five years,” explained IEA Executive Director, Fatih Birol. “A pandemic, an energy crisis and geopolitical instability all had the potential to derail efforts to build cleaner and more secure energy systems. Instead, we’ve seen the opposite in many economies.”

“The rate of emissions growth seen over the last decade is slower than that seen during the 1970s and 1980s, which saw major disruptions with the two energy shocks of 1973-4 and 1979-80, and a macroeconomic shock of global significance with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989-90,” according to an IEA companion report, Emissions grew in 2023, but clean energy is limiting the growth.

“When the last ten years are put in a broader historical context, a comparably slow rate of CO2 emissions growth only occurred in the extremely disruptive decades of World War I and the Great Depression. Global CO2 emissions are therefore undergoing a structural slowdown even as global prosperity grows.”