Carbon emissions reached 33.1 gigatons last year, breaking their previous record even though the annual increase was relatively modest, at 1.7 percent, the International Energy Agency said in its new Global Energy & CO2 Status Report . The disheartening increase that came amid an even stronger push towards a shift from fossil fuels to renewables came on the back of new addition to the coal plant capacity of developing countries in Asia. This growth resulted in coal accounting for 30 percent of all energy-related CO2 emissions last year. What’s more, the new coal power plant additions in Asia more than offset plant closures in other parts of the world. Despite the somewhat depressing data, which should not have come as a surprise in any case, there was some good news as well. Energy demand rose by 2.3 percent last year, which was almost double the average annual growth rate […]