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Well, this was unexpected. Global carbon dioxide emissions flatlined last year as governments across the world embarked on an ambitious energy transition, according to latest data from the International Energy Agency.

“After two years of growth, global emissions were unchanged at 33 gigatonnes in 2019 even as the world economy expanded by 2.9 per cent,” the Paris-based energy watchdog declared in press release this morning.

The agency, which advises mostly oil and gas importing countries on energy issues, attributed the flat growth to the greater role of renewable sources in power generation, fuel switching from coal to natural gas, and higher nuclear power generation. Other factors included milder weather in several countries, and slower economic growth in some emerging markets, the IEA said.

“We now need to work hard to make sure that 2019 is remembered as a definitive peak in global emissions, not just another pause in growth,” according to Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director. “We have the energy technologies to do this, and we have to make use of them all.”