Soaring carbon emissions this year are on track to reverse a big chunk of last year’s sharp reduction, which some climate researchers had hoped might be an environmental silver lining of the pandemic.
Covid-19 shut many of the world’s biggest economies—grounding planes, closing factories and keeping drivers off the road. That sent demand for carbon-dioxide-emitting fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas tumbling. The International Energy Agency estimates emissions fell 5.8% in 2020, the steepest percentage decline since World War II.
Now, they are climbing again sharply. The IEA, in a report published Tuesday, said emissions are expected to jump 4.8% this year, the biggest annual gain since 2010’s record-setting increase, when the world was bouncing back from the global economic crisis.
Governments are trying to restart economies amid global vaccination rollouts. In some big countries, such as the U.S. and China, demand is coming back strongly. As…