A study has shown that despite a decline in the use of coal, carbon dioxide emissions still increased slightly this year.
The Global Carbon Project's annual analysis of emission trends indicates that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will increase by 0.6% in 2019 despite the decline in the use of coal. The increase has been attributed to the continuing strong growth of oil and gas use.
In comparison, CO2 emissions in 2018 rose by almost 3% due to a strong demand for coal in China as well as an increase in demand for oil, fueled by a booming global market for cars, particularly sport utility vehicles (SUVs).
Robbie Andrew, a senior researcher at the Cicero Centre for International Climate Research, part of the Global Carbon Project, said: "Through most of 2019 it was looking as if coal use would grow globally, but weaker than expected economic performance in China and India, and a record hydropower year in India - caused by a strong monsoon - quickly changed the prospects for growth in coal use."
"Coal use in both the US and the EU28 has dropped substantially, possibly by as much as 10% in both regions in 2019 alone, helping push down global coal consumption," Andrew added.
The drop in coal use was offset by the continued rise of oil and gas. Dr. Glen Peters of Cicero pointed out: "Compared to coal, natural gas is a cleaner fossil fuel, but unabated natural gas use merely cooks the planet more slowly than coal."
The Global Carbon Project researchers discussed how the continuing use of fossil fuel-based technology is threatening the targets that countries have set for themselves in the Paris climate agreement.
Professor Corinne Le Quéré from the University of East Anglia said: "This is still not good news this year, as the emissions are still going up, the emissions are going more slowly, so we are making progress but the actions need to be higher in terms of implementing renewable energy and removing those tech that produce CO2."
