Scientists expect global fossil fuel carbon emissions to fall this year

LONDON - Global fossil fuel carbon emissions are set to fall this year, because of high energy prices and increased use of renewable power, though it is too soon to say they have peaked, a consortium of international scientists said on Tuesday.

Emissions are projected to ease by 0.4% from the previous year’s record level to 38.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, the Global Carbon Project said.

Scientists who contributed to the report said that renewable energy deployment needed to accelerate to send carbon emissions into more definite decline.

“A drop in emissions in one year is not a peak unless it is driven by structural change,” Glen Peters, research professor at the CICERO Center for International Climate Research, said.

The report, produced by an international team of more than 140 scientists, found that emissions from oil had fallen by 1.9% this year, mainly because of the supply disruption caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran, which drove energy prices higher, curbing demand.

Emissions from natural gas are projected to fall 0.3% versus last year, while coal emissions are expected to rise by 0.6%, according to the report.

China, the world’s largest carbon dioxide emitter, is expected to register a 0.9% fall in its emissions, while from the US, the world’s second-largest overall emitter, emissions are projected to drop by 1.3% versus the previous year.

-Sarah McFarlane; editing by Barbara Lewis/Reuters