Global carbon emissions to continue upward trend in 2018, says global energy watchdog

Faith Birol, the executive director of global energy watchdop, the International Energy Agency (IEA), has tweeted that he expects carbon emissions to rise in 2018, the second year in a row, because the growth of renewables is not accelerating quickly enough to reverse carbon emission trends.

“We expect energy-related CO2 emissions will increase again in 2018 after growing in 2017. This will bring us further away from long-term climate goals. The world is not moving towards Paris Agreement goals requiring emissions to peak as soon as possible, but away from them,”Birol tweeted.

The agency had earlier reported that global energy-related carbon emissions grew by 1.4 percent in 2017, reaching a historic high of 32.5 gigatonnes, a resumption of growth after three years of global emissions remaining flat.

The increase in carbon emissions was not universal, the agency said as major economies like the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico and Japan, all experienced declines, while Asian large economies, especially China and India, accounted for two-thirds of the global increase in carbon emissions.

To overcome this increase, Birol added that the world needs more renewables in all end-uses, including more energy efficiency and a range of other technologies and fuel sources to correct this course.