Covid-19 recovery to push emissions to all-time high, says IEA

The energy watchdog also lamented the extremely low spending on clean energy by various governments across the world. The IEA said that the amount in this quarter just 2% of their total stimulus funds in response to Covid-19.

The governments across the world are spending too little on clean energy in comparison to the stimulus allocated for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Tuesday. It also warned that the rebound from the pandemic is set to drive emissions of greenhouse gases to all-time highs.

The lack of sufficient green spending means that global emissions could go past their 2018 peak as soon as 2023, said IEA.(AP | Representational image)

"We estimate that full and timely implementation of the economic recovery measures announced to date would result in CO2 emissions climbing to record levels in 2023, continuing to rise thereafter," the IEA said in the report.

The agency highlighted that spending plans the governments across the world on clean energy in this quarter is $380 billion making up just 2% of their total stimulus funds in response to Covid-19.

This, the IEA said, is around a third of what is needed according to its estimates in order to put the world on course to reach net zero emissions by mid-century.

"(Countries) must then go even further by leading clean energy investment and deployment to much greater heights beyond the recovery period in order to shift the world on to a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050, which is narrow but still achievable - if we act now," IEA chief Fatih Birol said.

The lack of sufficient green spending means that global emissions could go past their 2018 peak as soon as 2023, said IEA. To keep global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius, the world needs to halve its emissions by the end of the decade relative to 2018, it added.