BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 20. The intensity of emissions from electricity production in the world is expected to decrease by an average of 3 percent in 2022 and 2023, Trendreports via the latest publication from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
According to the report, in 2022 only in Europe the intensity of emissions will increase (by 2 percent), and then decrease by 8 percent in 2023.
“Only for Europe do we expect an emissions increase in 2022 as, despite renewables growth, use of coal rises to reduce gas consumption (and to compensate the drop in nuclear generation). The Americas are the largest contributors to declining emissions, as additional renewable generation replaces fossil fuel use,” the IEA noted.
As IEA forecasts, due to the renewables growth in 2023, the decline in emissions is expected both in Americas (5-percent down), and Europe (8-percent down).
“Asia Pacific, however, could again see emissions rise (up 1 percent) as incremental demand growth exceeds additional renewables generation, and is thus met by increasing coal-based generation,” the report said.
Although the IEA’s January forecast pointed out that global electricity sector emissions would stay flat in 2022-2023, now a decline of around half a percent in 2022 and one percent in 2023 is expected, after an all-time high of over 13 gigaton CO2 in 2021.
“A combination of two main factors comes into play: lower-than-expected electricity demand growth and higher renewables generation. Both result in declining fossil fuel use,” the report said.