CO2 Emissions in 2022

Total transport emissions increased by 2.1% (or 137 Mt), also driven by growth in advanced economies. Nonetheless, emissions would have been higher without the accelerating deployment of low-carbon vehicles. Electric car sales surpassed 10 million in 2022, making up over 14% of global sales. If all new electric cars on the road had been typical diesel or gasoline cars, global emissions last year would have been another 13 Mt higher.

Despite promising growth in renewables, power sector emissions had the largest sectoral growth

The largest absolute sectoral increase in emissions in 2022 was from electricity and heat generation. Electricity and heat sector emissions increased by 1.8% (or 261 Mt), reaching an all-time high of 14.6 Gt. Gas-to-coal switching in many regions was the main driver of this growth: CO2 from coal-fired power generation grew by 2.1%, led by increases in Asian emerging market and developing economies. Natural gas emissions in the power sector remained close to 2021 levels, propped up most significantly by an increase in the United States.

Global electricity demand increased by 2.7%, and overall carbon intensity of the electricity generation declined by 2.0%, resuming a nine-year trend that had been broken in 2021.

The resumed decline in carbon intensity resulted from the fast deployment of renewables across all regions, with renewables meeting 90% of global growth in electricity demand. Solar PV and wind generation each increased by around 275 TWh, helping to avoid around 465 Mt in power sector emissions. Although several countries registered severe droughts in 2022, global hydro generation grew by 52 TWh from 2021’s levels, which were low because of water shortages in many regions.

Reliance on coal- and gas-fired power in extreme weather drove up emissions across regions

Emissions were pushed up by reliance on fossil fuel power plants to meet excess cooling demand during extreme summer heat, with cooling degree days across several regions in 2022 exceeding typical levels or even the maximum seen between 2000 and 2021. In the United States, the share of natural gas in the power fuel mix surpassed 40% in July and August. Coal power generation in China increased in August by around 15% year-on-year to exceed 500 TWh. In both countries, emissions levels for the first half of the year were lower than in 2021, before summer heat waves reversed the trend.

Europe saw the second warmest start to winter in the last 30 years, and as a result, emissions from buildings were lower than anticipated.

For the full year, cooling and heating demand from extreme weather pushed up global emissions by around 60 Mt CO2, around two-thirds of which came from additional cooling needs, and the remaining third from heating needs. This accounted for almost one-fifth of the total global increase in CO2 emissions.

China’s emissions barely changed from 2021 to 2022, amid Covid-19 lockdowns and a real estate slump

Energy-related emissions in China were relatively flat between 2021 and 2022, decreasing by 0.2% or 23 Mt to around 12.1 Gt. Emissions from energy combustion alone grew by 88 Mt, entirely due to increased use of coal, but this was more than offset by declines in emissions from industrial processes. The overall yearly decline was the first since structural reforms drove emissions lower in 2015.

While China significantly ramped up domestic coal production and coal power capacity additions last year, actual coal consumption did not fully keep pace. Tempered by a large increase in solar PV and wind generation, coal accounted for around three-fifths of the fuel mix in electricity generation. Total electricity demand grew much slower than the average seen over the last decade. As such, emissions from coal-fired power increased by around 3%, in part due to the ramp-up of coal power plants during heat waves, as well as to increasing reliance on electricity or district heating fuelled by coal.

Industry sector emissions declined, but the effects of China’s crackdown on debt-financed property and the ongoing real estate slump were not fully reflected in 2022 industry emissions. Construction new starts were down by around 40% year-on-year, while the production of steel and cement were just 2% and 10% lower than in 2021, respectively. As a result, China’s industry sector emitted 161 Mt less than the year before, with a large share of this decline from process emissions. China’s unprecedentedly large year-on-year decline pulled down global industry emissions.

In contrast to the global growth in transport sector emissions, China’s transport emissions registered a 3.1% decrease in 2022. Covid-19 measures were strongly reinforced in comparison to 2021, including total lockdowns in major cities and restrictions on crossing prefecture or province boundaries. At the same time, electric car sales reached 6 million in 2022, preventing further emissions from diesel and gasoline cars.

Energy crisis pushed European Union to cut emissions through clean power and demand reduction measures