--- title: Electricity Production Is Back—And So Are Its Emissions description: As electricity demand soars around the world, power plant emissions are expected to grow by 3.5% in 2021, according to a new IEA report. canonical: https://time.com/6081038/electricity-emissions/ author: Alejandro de la Garza article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-07-16T18:33:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T10:07:29.963Z article:section: Science og:title: Global Electricity Production Is Roaring Back—and So Are CO2 Emissions og:description: Power plant emissions are expected to grow by 3.5% in 2021, per a new report og:url: https://time.com/6081038/electricity-emissions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Global Electricity Production Is Roaring Back—and So Are CO2 Emissions twitter:description: Power plant emissions are expected to grow by 3.5% in 2021, per a new report twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Global Electricity Production Is Roaring Back—and So Are CO2 Emissions  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Jul 16, 2021 6:33 PM UTC  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Jul 16, 2021 6:33 PM UTC Carbon emissions from power plants around the world declined in recent years, but they’re poised to make a dramatic comeback over the next 18 months, according to a worrying [report](https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/01e1e998-8611-45d7-acab-5564bc22575a/ElectricityMarketReportJuly2021.pdf) released July 15 by the International Energy Agency (IEA). COVID-19 lockdowns were [responsible](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0797-x) for some of the recent decline, as [office buildings](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8175493/), for instance, reduced their energy consumption while employees were working remotely. After shrinking by 1% in 2019, CO2 emissions from power generation fell by another 3.5% around the world during COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, part of a [broader contraction](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0797-x#:~:text=Daily%20global%20CO2%20emissions%20decreased%20by%20%E2%80%9317%25%20%28%E2%80%93,by%20%E2%80%9326%25%20on%20average.) in emissions during that period. But as economies recover, global power consumption is set to erase those reductions, with electricity demand expected to increase by 5% in 2021 and 4% in 2022, per the IEA report. Expanded development of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power will make up for about half of that increase, and nuclear power is expected to grow worldwide as well. Yet, critically for the climate, fossil fuel power plants will produce 40-45% of new electrical capacity, with power plant emissions growing by 3.5% in 2021 and 2.5% in 2022. Particularly concerning is the expected growth in coal usage noted in the report. An IEA [global agenda](https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050) to achieve zero emissions is premised on a rapid worldwide coal drawdown, needing 6% yearly cuts around the world over the next four years. Instead, coal use is expected to ramp up by nearly 5% this year, and another 3% the year following. The IEA report also noted recent strain on power grids across the planet, triggered by unusual weather patterns, some of them linked to climate change. China, for instance, instituted the most drastic energy rationing efforts in 10 years this past winter, when demand for heating during the coldest winter in a half century hit grids in tandem with high power consumption from an economy roaring back to life after a COVID-19 slowdown. Japan’s energy system also faced pressure due to cold winter temperatures and a natural gas import crunch. The most severe energy access crises were the Texas blackouts this past February, driven mainly by the inability of natural gas power systems to handle the extreme cold temperatures that blanketed the region. In its report, the IEA rated that disaster—which left about 700 Texans dead after days without power in freezing weather—as the most severe of any power outage worldwide this year. The report also noted a projected increase in overall electricity use in Canada and the U.S. this summer following last month’s [record-breaking heatwave,](https://time.com/6077792/heat-wave-businesses/) which [strained local grids](https://time.com/6077120/how-the-extreme-heat-in-the-pacific-northwest-is-taxing-electric-grids-and-peoples-air-conditioners/) trying to keep up with power demand for air conditioning. The influential, 46-year-old IEA—founded as an intergovernmental organization in the wake of the 1970s oil crisis—has made a relatively recent shift to stronger messaging on climate, calling in 2020 for trillions of dollars in new global clean energy investment, and this spring announcing that countries should [stop investing](https://time.com/6049584/climate-change-iea-report/) in new sources of oil, natural gas and coal in order to zero out carbon emissions by 2050\. The findings of its newest report offers a worrying perspective, illustrating what may be a growing gap between the fossil fuel reductions needed to avert ecological catastrophe, and the real-world situation. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6081038/electricity-emissions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6081038/electricity-emissions/"},"headline":"Global Electricity Production Is Roaring Back—and So Are CO2 Emissions","datePublished":"2021-07-16T18:33:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:07:29.963Z","description":"Power plant emissions are expected to grow by 3.5% in 2021, per a new report","url":"https://time.com/6081038/electricity-emissions/","keywords":["climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alejandro de la Garza","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6081038/electricity-emissions/","name":"Global Electricity Production Is Roaring Back—and So Are CO2 Emissions"}}]}] ```