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Advanced economies break link between growth and carbon pollution but developing economies remain dependent

The world’s carbon dioxide emissions from energy rose yet again to a new high in 2023 despite fossil fuel use falling in the advanced economies of the EU and US, the latest International Energy Agency report shows.

Emissions reached a record 37.4bn tonnes as droughts and rising energy demand pushed up fossil fuel use, a rise of 1.1 per cent, or 410mn tonnes, compared to the year before.

This runs counter to the need for emissions to be cut by almost 45 per cent by 2030 to limit long-term global warming to no more than 1.5C since the pre-industrial era. Already the rise in temperatures is at least 1.1C, and last year was the hottest on record.

Higher emissions from India and China helped offset reductions in the EU and the US, as the developing economies remained heavily reliant on coal to meet energy demand even as they also develop cleaner energy. 

The IEA painted a more positive picture over the longer-term, saying energy-related emissions were in “a structural slowdown” thanks to the growth of clean energy sources such as wind turbines and solar panels.  

Overall, emissions growth over the past five years would have been about three times higher without the development of cleaner energy technologies, the IEA said. 

Significantly, economies such as the US and the EU managed to cut energy-related emissions despite economic growth, weakening the historic correlation between the two.

“The clean energy transition is continuing apace and reining in emissions,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, adding that the sector had shown “resilience” through the pandemic and energy crisis. 

The total level of emissions includes those from burning fossil fuels for energy, as well as industrial processes such as cement-making, and flaring from oil and gas.

The IEA report highlighted the effect of the weather on emissions: droughts, worsened by the El Niño weather pattern that warms the Pacific Ocean, drove a record fall in output from hydropower plants.

Fossil fuel power plants were largely used instead, the IEA said, resulting in about 170mn tonnes of extra carbon dioxide emissions, or about 40 per cent of the total increase last year.

The fall in hydropower output particularly affected India and China, with emissions from burning fossil fuels for energy in China growing by 5.2 per cent.

The country had rapidly developed cleaner energy sources, accounting for about 60 per cent of the new solar and wind energy and electric vehicles developed globally during 2023, the IEA said.  

But that was not enough to cover a 6.1 per cent increase in energy demand in China as its economy grew on the back of sectors including construction.

By contrast, emissions from fossil fuel energy production in the US fell by 4.1 per cent despite its economy growing by 2.5 per cent, as lower gas prices helped it generate more electricity from gas rather than coal. 

At the same time, emissions from energy production in the EU fell by almost 9 per cent despite economic growth of 0.7 per cent, with the IEA attributing the trend to the growth of renewables such as wind power. 

Electricity production from coal and gas in the EU fell by 27 per cent and 15 per cent respectively, the IEA said, noting they were overtaken by wind power for the first time.

“A pandemic, an energy crisis and geopolitical instability all had the potential to derail efforts to build cleaner and more secure energy systems,” said Birol. 

“Instead, we’ve seen the opposite in many economies.” However, he called for greater efforts to help emerging economies invest more in clean energy.

The film stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Edgar Ramírez and Adriana Paz.

CHANGE MAKERS: Anthony Vaccarello, who just unveiled one of the most talked-about collections in Paris for Saint Laurent, will soon be designing more film costumes, too.

Saint Laurent Productions will coproduce French director Jacques Audiard’s next film, “Emilia Perez.”

Described as a “melodrama musical,” it stars Karla Sofía Gascón, an up-and-coming Argentinian trans actor, who portrays a Mexican cartel leader who has a sex change to get away from the law and become the woman he’s always wanted to be, according to Variety, which like WWD is owned by PMC.

Gascón’s costars include Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Edgar Ramírez and Adriana Paz.

The movie will be coproduced with French production company Why Not Productions/Page 114, together with Pathé and France 2 Cinema, according to Saint Laurent Productions. It will be distributed by Pathé.

Audiard, who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with “Dheepan” in 2015, is best known for his Oscar-nominated film “A Prophet” in which Tahar Rahim delivered a breakthrough performance.

Describing the film’s narrative as “unconventional,” Saint Laurent Productions said “Emilia Perez” would feature music by Clément Ducol and French singer Camille, and choreography by Damien Jalet.

Taking its penchant for film to a new zenith, Saint Laurent last year established a subsidiary devoted to the full-fledged production of movies and debuted two shorts in Cannes: “Strange Way of Life” by Pedro Almodóvar, and Jean-Luc Godard’s “Trailer of a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars”

The Kering-owned fashion house bills itself as the first to set up a registered subsidiary to produce films, rather than merely funding them — or dressing its stars.

Saint Laurent Productions and Vaccarello have also revealed their involvement in Paolo Sorrentino’s and David Cronenberg’s next movies.

Struggling German chemicals group announces boardroom reshuffle ahead of update on potential break-up

Activist investor Jeff Ubben is set to join Bayer’s supervisory board as the struggling German aspirin-to-glyphosate conglomerate prepares to update investors about a potential break-up early next week.

Ubben disclosed a 0.83 per cent stake in Bayer a year ago, becoming a leading force behind the ousting of then chief executive Werner Baumann, who was replaced by Bill Anderson, a former Roche manager.

Anderson has blasted the German conglomerate’s performance as “not acceptable”, announcing in February the suspension of the dividend for three years to preserve cash and lower its crippling debt burden.

In response to pressure from investors to break itself up, the new CEO last year launched a strategic review and will update investors at its capital markets day next Tuesday when it will also report annual results.

Ubben told the Financial Times on Thursday that he continued to hold his stake and declined to comment further. A co-founder of activist fund ValueAct, Ubben said last year that his three-year-old Inclusive Capital was being wound down. He is also on the board of US oil major ExxonMobil.

Shares in Bayer have fallen 45 cent since Ubben disclosed his stake in January last year, exposing the founder of Inclusive Capital to paper losses. At the time, he said Bayer’s business divisions were performing well, but he blamed management for having been unable to “drive the stock price”.

The company is suffering from a sprawling multibillion litigation over its weedkiller glyphosate in the US, which it acquired in its controversial 2016 acquisition of US rival Monsanto and which former users blame for their cancer. The company also faces the expiration of key patents in its pharma division and last year aborted a late-stage trial of its most hopeful new drugs.

Under Germany’s two-tier governance system, the supervisory board is not involved in day-to-day decisions but oversees and challenges the work of the executive board.

Alongside Ubben, Bayer nominated Nancy Simonian, the former CEO of US biotech company Syros Pharmaceuticals, and Lori Schechter, the former general counsel of US healthcare group McKesson, to join its supervisory board. Shareholders will vote on the nominations at the company’s annual meeting in late April.

Last year, Ubben was already appointed to an independent, external group of experts advising Bayer’s management on sustainability — a body he will leave after he formally joined the supervisory board, according to Bayer.

On Thursday, Bayer also announced the early departure of the head of its consumer health unit, Heiko Schipper, who will be replaced by Julio Triana, a senior manager in the group’s pharma division. Among other options, Bayer has considered a carve-out of the consumer health unit, which specialises in over-the-counter medication, in order to streamline its business and raise much-needed cash.

The company said that Schipper had “asked the supervisory board to bring forward the end date of his contract in order to pursue a career opportunity outside of Bayer”.

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