Fitch Ratings reported that despite the sharp improvement in major and developed economies, little progress has been made in the decarbonization rate of the world economy in 2023.

According to Fitch Ratings’ analysis titled “Economic Indicator: Decarbonization of World GDP Still Too Slow”, while developing economies have not reduced their carbon intensity, their share of world energy consumption has increased.

Global economic growth was 2.9 percent in 2023, while the increase in carbon emissions was calculated as 1.8 percent. The ratio of emissions to global gross domestic product (GDP) fell by only 1 percent, the same level as the average decline over the last 25 years. However, to reach net zero emissions by 2050, the decline in the ratio of emissions to global GDP needs to be at an annual rate of 8 percent.

Last year, developed countries’ emissions fell by 4.2 percent, while their economies grew by 1.8 percent. Emissions in advanced economies have fallen to their lowest level since 1970. Much of this improvement is due to energy efficiency, while the carbon intensity of energy consumption has also steadily decreased.

However, there has been no progress in decarbonization in emerging economies. Their economies and carbon emissions increased by the same level, 4.7 percent, the worst performance in the last 10 years. Their share of global energy consumption is set to rise to 64 percent by 2023.

One of the reasons for the weak performance in emerging economies, especially in countries other than China, has been the lack of sufficient investment in clean energy projects. Most of the recent growth in global clean energy investment has been seen in advanced economies and China.