DOE sees world's CO2 emissions to grow by 79 % by 2020

World-wide emissions of global-warming CO2 will grow by 79 % in 2020 from 1995 due to an expected 75 % increase in global energy consumption.
In a recent report of the US Department of Energy, it said that CO2 emissions are bound to increase by 67 % even if industrialised countries implement a protocol they adopted last year at a UN climate change conference in Kyoto, Japan.

Under the protocol agreed to at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto, signatory countries are legally obliged to reduce average annual emissions of 6 greenhouse gases, including CO2, by an average of 5.2 % in a 5-year period ending 2012.
The report points out that energy consumption growth rates will be high in Asia, excluding Japan.
Asia, it said, will account for at least half of the world's total increase despite the region's current economic slowdown.
The US - the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases - has been trying to pressure developing countries, including significant emitters China and India, to adopt similar emissions restrictions.
As a result of the increase in energy consumption, the world's total CO2 output will nearly double from 5.84 bn tons in 1995 to 10.45 bn tons in 2020.

The US Department of Energy said the forecast did not factor in the effects of reductions under the Kyoto protocol, given that no country has ratified the pact.

Classified by fuel source, oil consumption will increase by 2 % annually but will decrease slightly in its share of total energy consumed from 39 % in 1995 to 37 % in 2020, the report said.
Natural gas, meanwhile, will almost double and surpass coal use by 2020. Coal's share will drop 1 percentage point from 1995 levels to 24 % in the given period.
The report painted a bleak future for the development of renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectric, solar and wind energy, which would be ill-matched to compete with fossil fuel's low prices. This situation could turn around with the implementation of the Kyoto protocol, it said.