How Electric Vehicles Are Limiting The CO2 Emission
Finally, some good news in the battle against greenhouse gasses: Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are on track to decline to less than 1% this year. That’s despite widespread concerns of a rush back to coal, oil, and gas amid a global energy crunch and Russia’s war in Ukraine. We have electric vehicles and the approval of renewables to thank for the surprisingly slight increase. The International Energy Agency published its forecast in a report, showing CO2 emissions are on track for a rise of 300 million metric tons in 2022, reaching 33.8 billion tons. That’s a far smaller rise than the jump of nearly 2 billion tons in 2021 as the world rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year’s increase comes mainly from the aviation sector, severely impacted by the pandemic.
“The global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted a scramble by many countries to use other energy sources to replace the natural gas supplies that Russia has withheld from the market. The encouraging news is that solar and wind are filling much of the gap, with the uptick in coal appearing to be relatively small and temporary,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in a statement.
“This means that CO2 emissions are growing far less quickly this year than some people feared – and that government policy actions are driving real structural changes in the energy economy. Those changes are set to accelerate, thanks to the major clean energy policy plans that have advanced worldwide in recent months.”
Rise In Coal Consumption
Without the significant deployment of renewables and EVs globally, the rise in emissions would have been much more extensive, potentially as much as 1 billion tons. Demand for coal has increased as Russia’s war in Ukraine hikes natural gas prices, and CO2 emissions from coal power generation, primarily driven by Asia, are forecasted to grow by more than 200 million tons, or 2%, this year.
Record Growth In Generating Solar & Wind Energy
The increase in emissions from coal has been “relatively small” and is “considerably outweighed by the expansion of renewables.” The world has hit record growth this year in solar and wind power, generating more than 700 terawatt-hours of energy. That’s enough to power around 67 million American homes for a year. And despite significant drought impacting vast swaths of the Northern Hemisphere, the overall picture for hydropower is still positive. Global hydropower generation has increased this year and is expected to contribute more than one-fifth of the growth in renewables.
A report demonstrated that the EU had generated a quarter of its power from renewable sources since Russia launched its war, which is a record for the period. The IEA forecasts EU’s gas emissions to decrease this year, despite the consumption of coal by alliances. Several EU countries are using more coal in response to the hike in gas prices and as Russia cuts supplies to some member states.
