Global carbon emission from fossil fuel is estimated to reach the highest record of 37.4 billion tons in 2024, a 0.8-percent increase from 2023, yet there is no sign of reduced carbon emission from fossil energy sector in sight.
In the last ten years, emission from fossil fuels has increased. This finding is based on the latest Global Carbon Budget report, which found that carbon emissions from land use change have trended downward over the past decade, with this year’s emissions estimated at 4.2 billion tons. However, both carbon emissions from fossil fuels and land use change are expected to increase this year, following droughts that exacerbate emissions from deforestation and forest fires during the 2023-2024 El Niño phenomenon.
With more than 40 billion tons of CO2 released every year, the level of CO2 in atmosphere continue to rise, driving the severity of global warming and its impacts. Yet, there is no sign that emissions from fossil burning have peaked.
“Time is limited to achieve Paris agreement goals and global leaders who met in COP 29 Paris have to take firm and immediate action to reduce fossil fuel emissions so we can have opportunity to maintain global warming under 2 degrees from pre-industrial level. Until we achieve net zero emission for CO2, global temperature continues to increase and causes severe impacts,“ Pierre Friedlingstein of Global Systems Institute at Exeter University as well as leader of the Global Carbon Budget report said in a statement on Wednesday, November 13, 2024.
“There are many signs of positive progress at country level and it is estimated that the peak of CO2 fossil emission will be achieved soon, but it is still difficult to be realized. Climate action is a collective problem and despite gradual emission reduction occurred in some countries, emission also increase in other countries. The progress in all ountries need to be accelerated in order to place global emission at decline path,” Glen Peters of the CICERO Center for International Climate Research said.
Indonesia fossil energy emission
In Indonesia, carbon emission decline despite it is still high. This is because Indonesia energy sector is still dominated by fossil energy despite the fact that the country has abundant renewable energy potential. Indonesia carbon emission from fossil fuel recorded at 733.2 million tons in 2023, a decline from 2022.
From land sector, Indonesia along with Brazil and Democratic Republic of Congo contributed around 60 percent of the total CO2 emission due to the global change in land use.
Indonesia becomes one of the countries with great role in global emission reduction due to deforestation and change in land use that continue to be a great challenge in climate change mitigation efforts.
In the middle of the declining trend of global emission, there are concerns over what the Indonesian government is doing.
“The construction of new coal power plants and the use of derivatives, such as gasification and liquefied coal as part of new energy, will overshadow our successful efforts to reduce emissions. Indonesia should get serious about moving away from coal dependency in order to achieve the Paris Agreement and live on a decent earth,” Novita Indri, Fossil Energy Campaigner at Trend Asia, said.
Indonesia has been committed to reduce emissions through the FOLU Net Sink 2030 initiative, where the forest and land sector will absorb more emissions than emissions released into the atmosphere. This commitment is recognized and appreciated by the world and countries with the largest tropical forests.
“Unfortunately, Indonesia has not firmly placed its position in preventing deforestation, one of which is to join the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP),” Nadia Hadad, Executive Director of MADANI Berkelanjutan, said.
“In order to ensure that this initiative runs and is implemented in real terms, the Indonesian government must have strong commitment and harmonize the forest and land sector emission reduction policies and the energy policies so that they are not counterproductive,” she added.
The Global Carbon Budget is an annual peer-reviewed report from the Global Carbon Project in collaboration with Future Earth and the World Climate Research Program. Since 2006, it has become the standard for reporting carbon emissions and carbon sequestration, and measuring progress towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. The report has always been a useful resource and reference at the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) summit.
