In the first quarter of 2020, countries locked down amid spiralling covid-19 infections and deaths, some environmentalists heralded a potential silver lining to the pandemic: a decline in the world’s use of fossil fuels, and therefore greenhouse-gas emissions. Indeed, global energy-related carbon emissions fell by 5.8% in 2020, or nearly 2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, thanks to reduced demand for oil, coal and gas. Is the Greenhouse-gas emissions are set to rise fast in 2021?

