GLOBAL energy-related CO2 emissions are on course to surge by 1.5 billion tons in 2021, reversing most of last year’s decline caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) Tuesday.

This would be the biggest annual rise in emissions since 2010, during the carbon-intensive recovery from the global financial crisis, said the IEA’s Global Energy Review 2021, which estimated that CO2 emissions will increase by almost 5 percent this year to 33 billion tons.

“This is a dire warning that the economic recovery from the COVID crisis is currently anything but sustainable for our climate,” said Executive Director of the IEA Fatih Birol. “Unless governments around the world move rapidly to start cutting emissions, we are likely to face an even worse situation in 2022.”

The accelerating rollouts of COVID-19 vaccinations in many major economies and widespread fiscal responses to the economic crisis are boosting the outlook for economic growth and leading to a rebound in energy demand in 2021.

Global energy demand is set to increase by 4.6 percent in 2021, led by emerging markets and developing economies, pushing it to 0.5 percent above its 2019 level, said the IEA report.

(Xinhua)