Reuters writes that in spite of the increased use of coal and oil, renewables capacity helped limit their effects with regards to emissions, but it was not enough.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said that "we still see emissions growing from fossil fuels, hindering efforts to meet the world’s climate targets."

"International and national fossil fuel companies are making record revenues and need to take their share of responsibility", he added, pointing to oil companies that announced record profits in 2022.

Despite the fact that the rise in energy-driven emissions was just 0.9% in 2022 compared to the previous year, the total amount of carbon released was 36.8 billion tons, a worrying number for scientists.

Coal-related emissions also increased on a global level by 1.6% last year, as some countries looked at the power resource to ensure they have enough power, while oil power plants also registered 2.5% higher emissions levels in 2022.

Experts say that nearly half of the amount of the oil used in 2022 was attributed to the aviation industry, as people started taking more flights.

Nuclear power itself was not able to aid renewables enough last year, as the heatwaves that hit many regions, including Europe, meant that there was not enough water supply to cool down reactors.

On a more optimistic note, IEA officials said that 550 million more tons of CO2 were avoided thanks to EVs, renewable energy and efficiency improvements.

"Without clean energy, the growth in CO2 emissions would have been nearly three times as high", Birol said.