The explanation is mainly more use of renewable energy and an increasing shift from coal to natural gas.

Electricity production caused around 33 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, despite forecasts that emissions from power generation would continue the upward trend.

Emissions from coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, decreased by close to 200 million tonnes, or 1.3 per cent, in 2019 compared with 2018. But emissions from oil and natural gas increased during the same period.

80 percent of the increase comes from Asia

As a whole, emissions in developed countries fell by 370 million tonnes, or 3.2 per cent on an annual basis, while emissions in developing countries increased by close to 400 million tonnes. Almost 80 percent of the increase is due to Asia, although the rate of increase was declining in major emission countries such as China and India.

- Now we must work hard to ensure that 2019 will be remembered as a definitive peak of global emissions and not just a break in development, says IEA chief Fatih Birol.