Global electricity consumption will surge this year as the world emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, with fossil fuels supplying almost half the increase in a shift that threatens ambitious net-zero carbon emission targets. Power demand will climb almost 5% in 2021 after sliding 1% last year, according to a report Thursday from the International Energy Agency. Most of the growth will come from Asia where strong demand for coal is keeping the dirtiest fossil fuel the world’s biggest source of electricity. Clean energy is also rebounding, but not enough to offset the gains in coal and rein in greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. After two years of declines, carbon emissions from the power sector will climb 3.5% this year and another 2.5% to a record high in 2022, the IEA said in its semi-annual Electricity Market Report. As a result, the world is slipping off the trajectory […]