The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Tuesday said that global carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase by 5 percent in 2021, the second largest jump in history.
The intergovernmental organization in its Global Energy Review 2021 unveiled the predicted emissions increase, which was previously anticipated following a drop in 2020 amid pandemic lockdown orders and economic slowdowns that decreased production.
However, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said Tuesday that the agency’s prediction of emissions surging by 1.5 billion tons this year is “a dire warning that the economic recovery from the Covid crisis is currently anything but sustainable for our climate.”