China tarnishes global climate figures

China was responsible for a good third of global CO2 emissions last year. That is according to new figures from the International Energy Agency. These figures show that global emissions rose to a record level in 2021. After falling in the first year of the Covid pandemic, emissions rose all the more sharply in its second year. Although renewables saw their largest annual growth, more coal was burned than ever before. This climate-damaging energy source accounted for more than 40 percent of the total growth in global CO2 emissions in 2021.