PARIS (Reuters) – Droughts limiting hydro-electric generation globally prevented a fall in the energy sector’s overall carbon emissions in the first half of 2023 despite the growth of wind and solar power, climate think tank Ember said in a report on Thursday.
Total power sector emissions rose by 0.2% in the first half of the year despite wind and solar’s share of the global electricity supply rising to 14.3% over the same period, up 1.5% compared to the first half of 2022, Ember data showed.
“While it is encouraging to see the remarkable growth of wind and solar energy, we can’t ignore the stark reality of adverse hydro conditions intensified by climate change,” Ember senior electricity analyst Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka said.
Hydropower output fell by some 177 terawatt-hours (TWh) due to droughts, with China accounting for nearly 75% of this, which prevented emissions from falling, the report said.
Carbon emissions would have dropped by 2.9% had hydro power generation stayed flat year-on-year, the data showed.
Some fossil fuel production was used to plug the supply gap, with power generation from coal and gas both rising by 8% in China and 8.1% from gas in the United States, Ember data showed.
However, low electricity demand growth helped suppress gains in emissions, with the total growth rate just 0.4% compared to the 10-year historic average of 2.6% growth per year.
Growth in solar power supply also helped lower total emissions as 104 TWh was added to the global energy mix with 50 countries setting monthly records, the data showed.
However, both wind and solar power supply growth remained below 2022 levels in absolute terms, with solar down 28 TWh and wind down 38 TWh, the data showed.
A recent International Energy Agency (IEA) report said that renewables will need to grow at a rapid pace and should triple by the end of the decade to reach goals to limit global warming.
(Reporting by Forrest Crellin; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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