Clean Energy Growth Doubled

Global climate pollution rose 1.1% in 2023, with dramatic gaps between cuts by wealthy economies and increases in many developing markets, the International Energy Agency said in its annual emissions report, Friday. “Far from falling rapidly — as is required to meet the global climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement — CO2 emissions reached a new record high,” the IEA warned.

While advanced economies cut carbon pollution by 4.5%, “a record decline outside of a recessionary period,” carbon pollution rose in developing markets. The clean energy sector has grown twice as fast as fossil fuels over the past five years, the IEA said, but “We need far greater efforts to enable emerging and developing economies to ramp up clean energy investment,” IEA head Fatih Birol said in a statement. (Reuters, Axios, E&E $, Politico Pro $, Wall Street Journal $, Climate Home, FT $, Electrek, The Verge, Barron’s, Forbes, Deutsche Welle)