siliconindia | | JUNE 20229For the first time in the history of UN climate summits, the COP26 declaration mentioned the need to reduce coal use, but it failed to call for targeted reductions in either coal or fossil fuelsClimate Change Conference (COP26) in November 2021, a record 135 countries pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. However, only 84 of these countries had economy-wide targets for renewable energy, and only 36 had targets for 100 per cent renewables. For the first time in the history of UN climate summits, the COP26 declaration mentioned the need to reduce coal use, but it failed to call for targeted reductions in either coal or fossil fuels. The GSR 2022 makes clear that meeting countries' net zero pledges will require massive efforts, and that the momentum associated with COVID-19 has passed untapped. Despite important green recovery measures in many countries, the strong economic rebound in 2021 - with global real gross domestic product (GDP) growing 5.9 percent - contributed to a four percent rise in final energy consumption, offsetting the growth of renewables. In China alone, final energy consumption rose 36 percent between 2009 and 2019. Most of the increase in global energy use in 2021 was met by fossil fuels, resulting in the largest surge in carbon dioxide emissions in history, up more than 2 billion tonnes worldwide. The collapse of the old energy order threatens the global economy. The year 2021 also marked the end of the era of cheap fossil fuels, with the largest spike in energy prices since the 1973 oil crisis. By the end of the year, gas prices reached around 10 times the 2020 levels in Europe and Asia and tripled in the US, leading to a spike in wholesale electricity prices in major markets by the end of 2021. Russia's invasion of Ukraine deeply aggravated the unfolding energy crisis, causing an unprecedented commodity shockwave that weighed heavily on global economic growth, rattling the more than 136 countries that are reliant on fossil fuel imports.
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