2024年3月,中国的二氧化碳(CO2)排放量下降了3%。这标志着自2022年12月放宽防疫措施、重启经济活动以来,中国碳排放量连续14个月的增长告一段落。
Carbon Brief基于官方数字和商业数据进行的新分析显示,中国CO2排放量在2023年或已达峰。
2024年3月CO2排放量下降的驱动因素包括光电和风电的快速增长,这满足了电力需求增长的90%,以及建筑活动的减少。
石油需求增长也陷入停滞,表明疫情后的经济反弹可能已临近尾声。
如果中国能维持去年创纪录的清洁能源建设水平,该国有望在2023年实现碳达峰。
然而,整个行业和政府对清洁能源的增长前景看法不一。如果中国尚未实现碳达峰,如何弥合分歧将是决定碳达峰何时到来的关键因素。
该分析的其他关键发现包括:
- 尽管电力需求强劲增长,但光电和风电的增长推动化石燃料发电量份额从前一年的67.4%下降至2024年3月的63.6%。
- 由于中国房地产建设活动的持续萎缩,2024年3月钢铁产量下降了8%,水泥产量下降了22%。
- 电动汽车现在约占中国道路上汽车总量的十分之一,将汽油需求增长拉低了约3.5个百分点。
- 去年创纪录的太阳能新增发电装机中,约45%是规模较小的分布式光伏,导致看似出现了“数据缺失”问题。
为什么三月排放量出现下降?
根据中国国家统计局发布的初步能源消费数据,2024年第一季度中国的碳排放量总体显著增加。

今年1月和2月的碳排放量仍较2023年的低基数大幅增长,彼时中国经济仍因刚结束不久的清零防疫措施而受到抑制。
因此,与2023年同期相比,2024年第一季度的CO2排放量同比增长了3.8%,煤炭消费量增长了3%,石油消费量增长了4%,天然气消费量增长了11%。
转折点出现在今年3月份。由于该月份的煤炭消费量降低了1%,石油消费保持平稳,而水泥产量则下降了22%,导致3月CO2排放量同比下降了3%。尽管天然气消费量增长了14%,但由于其在中国能源结构中占比较小,从而影响有限。
如下图所示,自2022年12月放宽疫情限制措施后,中国的碳排放量从2023年2月开始回升。
因此,2023年1月至2月的同比比较仍然受到去年疫情导致的低基数影响,这使得3月的数据成为能够清楚地反映碳排放趋势的首个月度数据。

近年来,中国碳排放量增长的主要推动力来自电力部门(见下文)。
反之,3月碳排放趋势转为下降,主要原因也是电力部门的排放量增长的大幅放缓。由于光电和风电的强劲增长,电力部门3月的碳排放量仅同比增长了1%。
如下图所示,尽管电力部门的排放量企稳,但建筑业对钢铁和水泥的需求持续下降,这才是3月份碳排放量减少的最主要原因。
钢铁产量下降了8%,因此炼钢厂的主要燃料炼焦煤的产量也随之降低。水泥产量同比骤降了22%。
由于政府对房地产行业高杠杆的打击和对金融风险的管控,以及建筑行业过去的繁荣导致了产能过剩,房地产行业投资已连续第三年收缩,这使得上述排放趋势可能会继续维持。

尽管建筑业需求出现收缩,但中国对钢铁和其他能源密集型金属的需求并未出现预期的大幅下降。
这背后的原因是制造业的快速增长和对该行业的投资,而在设施建设和工业机械生产中都需使用金属制品。
但是,随着全球各种商品和大宗货物的市场逐渐饱和,这种制造业的增长不太可能持续下去。当局的经济政策现在强调“新质生产力”,这是推动经济增长摆脱对传统重工业的依赖的最新尝试。“新质生产力”指高端的制造和研发,这些领域的能源密集程度大多比中国的传统工业部门更低。
从2024年3月其他行业的情况来看,运输用油的需求在经历了几个月的强劲增长之后,变得与去年同期相比近乎持平。这表明疫情后的需求反弹可能正在逐渐消失。
航空燃料(+35%)和汽油(+7%)产量仍在增长,说明客运需求出现增长。但柴油产量增长停滞(+1%),原油加工量也仅增加了1%。
电动汽车的增长正显著削减石油需求量。根据过去十年的累计销售数据估计,电动汽车在道路上所有车辆中的占比从去年的7.0%增加到10.5%。这表明,电动汽车的普及使汽油需求增长降低了3.5个百分点。
天然气需求出现大幅反弹,同比增长14%。此前天然气价格高企导致需求下降。天然气消费的增长主要来自工业和家庭部门。
随着燃气电厂利用率有所恢复,电力部门的天然气消费量增长了8%,但这仅占总体增长很小的一部分。
天然气在中国能源结构中的占比曾连续增长了二十多年,在2021至2023年间有所下降,现在开始恢复增长。
近期推动碳排放量增长的一个因素仍在继续:化工行业的煤炭消费量增长了14%,延续了2022和2023年两位数的增长趋势。
尽管目前还没有足够的数据来估算4月份的CO2排放量,但当月的工业数据表明,3月排放下降的趋势仍在继续。
由于光伏发电满足了大部分的电力需求增长,火力发电量——主要来自煤电——缓慢增长了1.3%。钢铁、水泥和焦炭产量分别下降了8%、9%和7%,反映出建筑需求的持续减少。炼油量下降了3%。
国内煤炭开采量下降了3%,而进口量增加了11%,这意味着总供应量减少了5%。
天然气需求进一步强劲增长,进口量增长了15%,国内产量增加了3%。在能源密集型行业中,化工和有色金属行业的产量继续保持较快增长。
光电和风电满足需求增长
企稳的电力部门排放量值得关注,因为电力需求继续以7.4%高速增长,而受长期干旱的影响,水电利用率低于长期平均水平。
过去几年,工业用电推动电力需求迅速增长。3月,工业需求增长放缓,但服务业的反弹维持了整体需求的增长。
近一半的用电需求增长来自工业,其中有色金属、化工、机械和电子等行业是最主要的需求增长的领域。服务业贡献了需求增长的三分之一,主要源自批发和零售贸易,另有六分之一来自家庭用电。
在2022年历史性的热浪引发一波空调购买潮的推动下,家庭用电需求在过去几年也出现了激增,尤其是在以前没有空调的低收入家庭。
尽管电力需求快速增长,但由于分布式光伏电站的大规模部署,规模以上工业发电量增速放缓至3%。
(与大型集中式太阳能发电场相比,分布式光伏电站指的是装机规模较小的发电系统,通常安装在家庭和企业的屋顶上。)
总体而言,由于2023年光电和风电装机的创纪录增长,光电和风电发电量占比已达到22%,并在3月实现了近90%的同比增长。非化石燃料发电量占比从去年的32.6%上升至36.2%。

分布式光伏对发电的贡献越来越大,但这在一定程度上被中国月度电力数据的报告方式所掩盖。国家统计局只发布大型光伏和风力发电站的月度发电量。它还系统性地上修了前几年的数据,这表明其没有实时捕捉新进入市场的企业的发电量。
由于去年创纪录的光伏新增装机容量中有45%是分布式发电,对小型光伏装机的排除对这些数字的影响比以往大得多。
这在中国和海外引起很多困惑,特别是报告的用电量数据远大于发电量数据,这显然是不可能的,彭博社甚至称其为“数据缺失问题”。
然而,用电量和规模以上工业发电量之间不断扩大的差距表明,分布式光伏在满足用电需求方面的贡献越来越大。
与月报数据不同,中国的年度统计公报中没有“缺失”的数据,因为年度统计包括所有电厂,无论其规模。例如,2023年的年度统计公报显示,光伏发电量是月度统计的两倍,风电发电量则多出了10%。
事实上,如果按照月度数据中的装机容量和利用小时数来计算发电量,得到的数据与年度报告数据非常接近。这清楚地表明,尽管统计局的月度数据中没有纳入分布式光伏的发电量,但其的确为满足电力需求做出重大贡献。
清洁能源热潮继续
去年光电和风电新增发电装机容量约300吉瓦(GW),这推动了3月份碳排放量的下降。这种热潮在2024年前三个月加速,与去年相比增长了40%。
太阳能发电新增装机容量46吉瓦,同比增长36%;风电新增装机容量16吉瓦,同比增长50%。
通常来说,第一季度的新增装机容量增速一般较低,而且由于报告滞后,相当多的新增装机在年底才被报告。
强劲的同比增长表明,对新项目能否成功并网的担忧并未影响新增装机容量增加的步伐。即便今年剩下时间里增速会有所放缓,但迄今为止的数据表明,去年创纪录的增速可能会在2024年持续。
今年1月至3月,太阳能电池板产量在去年的高基数上又增长了20%,表明中国和海外的需求强劲。
电动汽车产量增长了29%,汽车总产量恢复了下降趋势,这使得电动汽车占比持续快速攀升,在第一季度达到了31%,而去年同期为26%。
由于光电和风电项目的经济效益显著,对新增装机的主要限制来自并网。因担心无法消纳新增发电量,去年多个省级电网运营商已开始限制新增光电和风电项目。
这凸显了中国电网运营上的短板,因为风电和光电占中国总发电量的份额仍然有限,仅为15%。相比之下,两者在欧盟电力系统中的占比为27%,德国、西班牙和希腊达到40%。
中国已开始采取行动解决该问题。国家发改委已开始放宽光电和风电并网的要求。这将增加风光项目投资者的不确定性,但提高了电网运营商的消纳能力,从而支持发电装机和发电量的增长。
国家发改委还发布了一项推动储能发展的政策,承诺到2027年,电力系统将能够支撑新增风光装机容量,同时将因电网问题而浪费的发电量比例保持在较低水平。
虽然光电和风电已开始满足大部分或全部用电需求的增长,但煤电投资仍在继续。第一季度,火电装机的新增速度同比略有放缓,但各省2024年的“重点项目清单”中包括超过200吉瓦的火电项目,其主要是燃煤电厂。
未来仍充满变数
中国3月份碳排放量的下降可能标志着自2020年以来碳排放的强劲增长出现了转折点。正如 Carbon Brief 去年秋天发布的一篇分析所述,目前清洁能源的增长率有可能使该国提前实现碳达峰。
因此,清洁能源增长是否会持续,是影响中国未来排放路径的关键问题。但是,外界对于未来风电和光电的发展速度仍存在很大分歧。
中国光伏行业协会在其“保守”情景中预测,2024年至2030年间年均新增装机容量为225吉瓦,比2023年的217吉瓦略有增加。在“乐观”情景下,这一数字将加速至每年280吉瓦。根据该协会预测,中国的太阳能总装机容量将从目前的660吉瓦,到2030年增加到2200至2600吉瓦。
据风电行业数据,要实现2060年碳中和目标,中国需要在2021年至2025年间每年新增超过50吉瓦的风电装机。从2026年起,每年新增装机超过60吉瓦。这是一个相对适中的轨迹,因为2023年风电新增装机容量已经达到76吉瓦。
另一方面,国家能源局局长章建华在最近一篇文章中写道,清洁能源的新增装机容量应保持在每年100吉瓦以上,但这不到2023年实际水平的一半。这意味着他认为最近的加速增长是反常的,可能难以持续。
与之类似,在国家能源局2024年的工作计划中,从总发电装机容量和非化石能源发电容量占比,可以推算出非化石能源新增装机的目标在170吉瓦左右。(尽管2023年工作计划的目标是160吉瓦,但实际新增接近300吉瓦。)
下图展现了对于光电和风电发展的不同愿景。深蓝色线代表了章建华的预期,即年新增装机容量将回落到2020年至2022年水平;浅蓝色和红色线是可再生能源行业预测的增长趋势,其大致保持在2023年的水平,或稳步增长。

到2030年,光伏行业协会和国家能源局就光电和风电的装机目标差距为1400至1800吉瓦。如果新增的清洁能源发电量在2030年能够取代煤电,那么碳排放量将比当前水平下降10至15%。到2035年,随着风电和光电进一步发展,碳排放量将比当前水平下降20至25%。
章建华在文章中指出了一些挑战,以解释为何他认为清洁能源新增发电容量水平较低,包括储能价格机制尚未健全,能源转型政策合力亟待加强,以及集中连片新能源发展用地、用海空间不足等。
尽管如此,减缓光电、风电和相关储能的新增装机速度将给中国经济泼上一盆冷水,因为这些清洁能源行业已成为经济增长的一个关键来源。
此外,最近对这些行业生产能力的大量投资,只有在清洁能源设备需求持续增长的情况下才能得到利用和回报。
政府雄心的减弱也反映在今年设定的较为保守的官方目标上。根据环保部最近设定的目标,2024年碳强度(每单位GDP的排放量)的目标降幅为3.9%。
尽管这一目标超过过去三年碳强度年均仅下降1.5%的水平,但考虑到GDP增速目标是“约5%”,该碳强度目标实际将允许碳排放量增长逾1%。
在2021年至2023年碳排放量快速增加之后,中国已经严重偏离了2025年和2030年的碳强度目标,而2024年的年度目标未能缩小这一差距。
3.9%正是实现“十四五”规划中碳排放强度下降18%的目标所需的年均下降幅度。因此,该目标避免了落后幅度进一步扩大,但对弥补迄今为止的进展滞后毫无作用。
国家发改委还设定了一个相对保守的目标,即到2024年将“化石能源强度”降低2.5%,这将允许碳排放量增加2%以上。
章建华还认为,在2026至2030年期间,清洁能源应满足70%的能源消费增长,这一目标也与清洁能源新增装机容量放缓的趋势一致。
这意味着,能源消费增长的30%仍将通过增加化石燃料的使用来满足,因此CO2排放量也将继续增加。
持续增长的碳排放量意味着中国将面临无法实现2030年的碳强度承诺的风险,而这是中国在《巴黎协定》下提交的国际气候承诺的一部分。因为假设GDP年均增长5%或更低,根据这一承诺,从2023年到2030年,能源部门的CO2排放量没有增加的空间。
因此,中国能否实现其气候承诺,取决于清洁能源增长是否会继续显著超过中央政府制定的目标,亦或是这些目标在未来是否会提高。
数据来源
本分析数据来源于中国国家统计局、国家能源局、中国电力企业联合会、中国海关官方发布的数据以及行业数据提供商WIND资讯。
电力行业煤炭消费量是根据煤炭发电量和燃煤电厂每月平均发热量来估算的,以避免官方煤炭消费量影响近期数据的问题。煤炭发电量根据火力发电总量和燃煤、燃气、生物质电厂报告容量和利用小时数计算,以得到综合火力发电数据。
当数据来自多个来源时,本文交叉引用不同来源并尽可能使用官方来源,调整总消费数控,以匹配国家统计局报告的消费增长和能源结构变化。
2024年第一季度的数据进行了调整,以匹配国家统计局初步官方数据中报告的整个季度的同比增长率。但无论有没有这种调整,三月份排放量下降的结论都成立。
二氧化碳排放量估算基于国家统计局默认的 2018 年燃料热值和中国最新国家温室气体排放清单中的排放因素。水泥二氧化碳排放基于截至 2023 年的年度估算。
对于石油消耗量,表观消耗量是根据炼油厂吞吐量计算,减去石油产品的净出口量。
The post 分析:月度碳排放量下降或表明中国已在2023年碳达峰 appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Greenhouse Gases
Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate
We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.
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Key developments
Food inflation on the rise
DELUGE STRIKES FOOD: Extreme rainfall and flooding across the Mediterranean and north Africa has “battered the winter growing regions that feed Europe…threatening food price rises”, reported the Financial Times. Western France has “endured more than 36 days of continuous rain”, while farmers’ associations in Spain’s Andalusia estimate that “20% of all production has been lost”, it added. Policy expert David Barmes told the paper that the “latest storms were part of a wider pattern of climate shocks feeding into food price inflation”.
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NO BEEF: The UK’s beef farmers, meanwhile, “face a double blow” from climate change as “relentless rain forces them to keep cows indoors”, while last summer’s drought hit hay supplies, said another Financial Times article. At the same time, indoor growers in south England described a 60% increase in electricity standing charges as a “ticking timebomb” that could “force them to raise their prices or stop production, which will further fuel food price inflation”, wrote the Guardian.
‘TINDERBOX’ AND TARIFFS: A study, covered by the Guardian, warned that major extreme weather and other “shocks” could “spark social unrest and even food riots in the UK”. Experts cited “chronic” vulnerabilities, including climate change, low incomes, poor farming policy and “fragile” supply chains that have made the UK’s food system a “tinderbox”. A New York Times explainer noted that while trade could once guard against food supply shocks, barriers such as tariffs and export controls – which are being “increasingly” used by politicians – “can shut off that safety valve”.
El Niño looms
NEW ENSO INDEX: Researchers have developed a new index for calculating El Niño, the large-scale climate pattern that influences global weather and causes “billions in damages by bringing floods to some regions and drought to others”, reported CNN. It added that climate change is making it more difficult for scientists to observe El Niño patterns by warming up the entire ocean. The outlet said that with the new metric, “scientists can now see it earlier and our long-range weather forecasts will be improved for it.”
WARMING WARNING: Meanwhile, the US Climate Prediction Center announced that there is a 60% chance of the current La Niña conditions shifting towards a neutral state over the next few months, with an El Niño likely to follow in late spring, according to Reuters. The Vibes, a Malaysian news outlet, quoted a climate scientist saying: “If the El Niño does materialise, it could possibly push 2026 or 2027 as the warmest year on record, replacing 2024.”
CROP IMPACTS: Reuters noted that neutral conditions lead to “more stable weather and potentially better crop yields”. However, the newswire added, an El Niño state would mean “worsening drought conditions and issues for the next growing season” to Australia. El Niño also “typically brings a poor south-west monsoon to India, including droughts”, reported the Hindu’s Business Line. A 2024 guest post for Carbon Brief explained that El Niño is linked to crop failure in south-eastern Africa and south-east Asia.
News and views
- DAM-AG-ES: Several South Korean farmers filed a lawsuit against the country’s state-owned utility company, “seek[ing] financial compensation for climate-related agricultural damages”, reported United Press International. Meanwhile, a national climate change assessment for the Philippines found that the country “lost up to $219bn in agricultural damages from typhoons, floods and droughts” over 2000-10, according to Eco-Business.
- SCORCHED GRASS: South Africa’s Western Cape province is experiencing “one of the worst droughts in living memory”, which is “scorching grass and killing livestock”, said Reuters. The newswire wrote: “In 2015, a drought almost dried up the taps in the city; farmers say this one has been even more brutal than a decade ago.”
- NOUVELLE VEG: New guidelines published under France’s national food, nutrition and climate strategy “urged” citizens to “limit” their meat consumption, reported Euronews. The delayed strategy comes a month after the US government “upended decades of recommendations by touting consumption of red meat and full-fat dairy”, it noted.
- COURTING DISASTER: India’s top green court accepted the findings of a committee that “found no flaws” in greenlighting the Great Nicobar project that “will lead to the felling of a million trees” and translocating corals, reported Mongabay. The court found “no good ground to interfere”, despite “threats to a globally unique biodiversity hotspot” and Indigenous tribes at risk of displacement by the project, wrote Frontline.
- FISH FALLING: A new study found that fish biomass is “falling by 7.2% from as little as 0.1C of warming per decade”, noted the Guardian. While experts also pointed to the role of overfishing in marine life loss, marine ecologist and study lead author Dr Shahar Chaikin told the outlet: “Our research proves exactly what that biological cost [of warming] looks like underwater.”
- TOO HOT FOR COFFEE: According to new analysis by Climate Central, countries where coffee beans are grown “are becoming too hot to cultivate them”, reported the Guardian. The world’s top five coffee-growing countries faced “57 additional days of coffee-harming heat” annually because of climate change, it added.
Spotlight
Nature talks inch forward
This week, Carbon Brief covers the latest round of negotiations under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which occurred in Rome over 16-19 February.
The penultimate set of biodiversity negotiations before October’s Conference of the Parties ended in Rome last week, leaving plenty of unfinished business.
The CBD’s subsidiary body on implementation (SBI) met in the Italian capital for four days to discuss a range of issues, including biodiversity finance and reviewing progress towards the nature targets agreed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
However, many of the major sticking points – particularly around finance – will have to wait until later this summer, leaving some observers worried about the capacity for delegates to get through a packed agenda at COP17.
The SBI, along with the subsidiary body on scientific, technical and technological advice (SBSTTA) will both meet in Nairobi, Kenya, later this summer for a final round of talks before COP17 kicks off in Yerevan, Armenia, on 19 October.
Money talks
Finance for nature has long been a sticking point at negotiations under the CBD.
Discussions on a new fund for biodiversity derailed biodiversity talks in Cali, Colombia, in autumn 2024, requiring resumed talks a few months later.
Despite this, finance was barely on the agenda at the SBI meetings in Rome. Delegates discussed three studies on the relationship between debt sustainability and implementation of nature plans, but the more substantive talks are set to take place at the next SBI meeting in Nairobi.
Several parties “highlighted concerns with the imbalance of work” on finance between these SBI talks and the next ones, reported Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
Lim Li Ching, senior researcher at Third World Network, noted that tensions around finance permeated every aspect of the talks. She told Carbon Brief:
“If you’re talking about the gender plan of action – if there’s little or no financial resources provided to actually put it into practice and implement it, then it’s [just] paper, right? Same with the reporting requirements and obligations.”
Monitoring and reporting
Closely linked to the issue of finance is the obligations of parties to report on their progress towards the goals and targets of the GBF.
Parties do so through the submission of national reports.
Several parties at the talks pointed to a lack of timely funding for driving delays in their reporting, according to ENB.
A note released by the CBD Secretariat in December said that no parties had submitted their national reports yet; by the time of the SBI meetings, only the EU had. It further noted that just 58 parties had submitted their national biodiversity plans, which were initially meant to be published by COP16, in October 2024.
Linda Krueger, director of biodiversity and infrastructure policy at the environmental not-for-profit Nature Conservancy, told Carbon Brief that despite the sparse submissions, parties are “very focused on the national report preparation”. She added:
“Everybody wants to be able to show that we’re on the path and that there still is a pathway to getting to 2030 that’s positive and largely in the right direction.”
Watch, read, listen
NET LOSS: Nigeria’s marine life is being “threatened” by “ghost gear” – nets and other fishing equipment discarded in the ocean – said Dialogue Earth.
COMEBACK CAUSALITY: A Vox long-read looked at whether Costa Rica’s “payments for ecosystem services” programme helped the country turn a corner on deforestation.
HOMEGROWN GOALS: A Straits Times podcast discussed whether import-dependent Singapore can afford to shelve its goal to produce 30% of its food locally by 2030.
‘RUSTING’ RIVERS: The Financial Times took a closer look at a “strange new force blighting the [Arctic] landscape”: rivers turning rust-orange due to global warming.
New science
- Lakes in the Congo Basin’s peatlands are releasing carbon that is thousands of years old | Nature Geoscience
- Natural non-forest ecosystems – such as grasslands and marshlands – were converted for agriculture at four times the rate of land with tree cover between 2005 and 2020 | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Around one-quarter of global tree-cover loss over 2001-22 was driven by cropland expansion, pastures and forest plantations for commodity production | Nature Food
In the diary
- 2-6 March: UN Food and Agriculture Organization regional conference for Latin America and Caribbean | Brasília
- 5 March: Nepal general elections
- 9-20 March: First part of the thirty-first session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) | Kingston, Jamaica
Cropped is researched and written by Dr Giuliana Viglione, Aruna Chandrasekhar, Daisy Dunne, Orla Dwyer and Yanine Quiroz.
Please send tips and feedback to cropped@carbonbrief.org
The post Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate
Greenhouse Gases
Dangerous heat for Tour de France riders only a ‘question of time’
Rising temperatures across France since the mid-1970s is putting Tour de France competitors at “high risk”, according to new research.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, uses 50 years of climate data to calculate the potential heat stress that athletes have been exposed to across a dozen different locations during the world-famous cycling race.
The researchers find that both the severity and frequency of high-heat-stress events have increased across France over recent decades.
But, despite record-setting heatwaves in France, the heat-stress threshold for safe competition has rarely been breached in any particular city on the day the Tour passed through.
(This threshold was set out by cycling’s international governing body in 2024.)
However, the researchers add it is “only a question of time” until this occurs as average temperatures in France continue to rise.
The lead author of the study tells Carbon Brief that, while the race organisers have been fortunate to avoid major heat stress on race days so far, it will be “harder and harder to be lucky” as extreme heat becomes more common.
‘Iconic’
The Tour de France is one of the world’s most storied cycling races and the oldest of Europe’s three major multi-week cycling competitions, or Grand Tours.
Riders cover around 3,500 kilometres (km) of distance and gain up to nearly 55km of altitude over 21 stages, with only two or three rest days throughout the gruelling race.
The researchers selected the Tour de France because it is the “iconic bike race. It is the bike race of bike races,” says Dr Ivana Cvijanovic, a climate scientist at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, who led the new work.
Heat has become a growing problem for the competition in recent years.
In 2022, Alexis Vuillermoz, a French competitor, collapsed at the finish line of the Tour’s ninth stage, leaving in an ambulance and subsequently pulling out of the race entirely.
Two years later, British cyclist Sir Mark Cavendish vomited on his bike during the first stage of the race after struggling with the 36C heat.
The Tour also makes a good case study because it is almost entirely held during the month of July and, while the route itself changes, there are many cities and stages that are repeated from year to year, Cvijanovic adds.
‘Have to be lucky’
The study focuses on the 50-year span between 1974 and 2023.
The researchers select six locations across the country that have commonly hosted the Tour, from the mountain pass of Col du Tourmalet, in the French Pyrenees, to the city of Paris – where the race finishes, along the Champs-Élysées.
These sites represent a broad range of climatic zones: Alpe d’ Huez, Bourdeaux, Col du Tourmalet, Nîmes, Paris and Toulouse.
For each location, they use meteorological reanalysis data from ERA5 and radiant temperature data from ERA5-HEAT to calculate the “wet-bulb globe temperature” (WBGT) for multiple times of day across the month of July each year.
WBGT is a heat-stress index that takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed and direct sunlight.
Although there is “no exact scientific consensus” on the best heat-stress index to use, WBGT is “one of the rare indicators that has been originally developed based on the actual human response to heat”, Cvijanovic explains.
It is also the one that the International Cycling Union (UCI) – the world governing body for sport cycling – uses to assess risk. A WBGT of 28C or higher is classified as “high risk” by the group.
WBGT is the “gold standard” for assessing heat stress, says Dr Jessica Murfree, director of the ACCESS Research Laboratory and assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Murfree, who was not involved in the new study, adds that the researchers are “doing the right things by conducting their science in alignment with the business practices that are already happening”.
The researchers find that across the 50-year time period, WBGT has been increasing across the entire country – albeit, at different rates. In the north-west of the country, WBGT has increased at an average rate of 0.1C per decade, while in the southern and eastern parts of the country, it has increased by more than 0.5C per decade.
The maps below show the maximum July WBGT for each decade of the analysis (rows) and for hourly increments of the late afternoon (columns). Lower temperatures are shown in lighter greens and yellows, while higher temperatures are shown in darker reds and purples.
Six Tour de France locations analysed in the study are shown as triangles on the maps (clockwise from top): Paris, Alpe d’ Huez, Nîmes, Toulouse, Col du Tourmalet and Bordeaux.
The maps show that the maximum WBGT temperature in the afternoon has surpassed 28C over almost the entire country in the last decade. The notable exceptions to this are the mountainous regions of the Alps and the Pyrenees.
The researchers also find that most of the country has crossed the 28C WBGT threshold – which they describe as “dangerous heat levels” – on at least one July day over the past decade. However, by looking at the WBGT on the day the Tour passed through any of these six locations, they find that the threshold has rarely been breached during the race itself.
For example, the research notes that, since 1974, Paris has seen a WBGT of 28C five times at 3pm in July – but that these events have “so far” not coincided with the cycling race.
The study states that it is “fortunate” that the Tour has so far avoided the worst of the heat-stress.
Cvijanovic says the organisers and competitors have been “lucky” to date. She adds:
“It has worked really well for them so far. But as the frequency of these [extreme heat] events is increasing, it will be harder and harder to be lucky.”
Dr Madeleine Orr, an assistant professor of sport ecology at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the study, tells Carbon Brief that the paper was “really well done”, noting that its “methods are good [and its] approach was sound”. She adds:
“[The Tour has] had athletes complain about [the heat]. They’ve had athletes collapse – and still those aren’t the worst conditions. I think that that says a lot about what we consider safe. They’ve still been lucky to not see what unsafe looks like, despite [the heat] having already had impacts.”
Heat safety protocols
In 2024, the UCI set out its first-ever high temperature protocol – a set of guidelines for race organisers to assess athletes’ risk of heat stress.
The assessment places the potential risk into one of five categories based on the WBGT, ranging from very low to high risk.
The protocol then sets out suggested actions to take in the event of extreme heat, ranging from having athletes complete their warm-ups using ice vests and cold towels to increasing the number of support vehicles providing water and ice.
If the WBGT climbs above the 28C mark, the protocol suggests that organisers modify the start time of the stage, adapt the course to remove particularly hazardous sections – or even cancel the race entirely.
However, Orr notes that many other parts of the race, such as spectator comfort and equipment functioning, may have lower temperatures thresholds that are not accounted for in the protocol, but should also be considered.
Murfree points out that the study’s findings – and the heat protocol itself – are “really focused on adaptation, rather than mitigation”. While this is “to be expected”, she tells Carbon Brief:
“Moving to earlier start times or adjusting the route specifically to avoid these locations that score higher in heat stress doesn’t stop the heat stress. These aren’t climate preventative measures. That, I think, would be a much more difficult conversation to have in the research because of the Tour de France’s intimate relationship with fossil-fuel companies.”
The post Dangerous heat for Tour de France riders only a ‘question of time’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Dangerous heat for Tour de France riders only a ‘question of time’
Greenhouse Gases
DeBriefed 20 February 2026: EU’s ‘3C’ warning | Endangerment repeal’s impact on US emissions | ‘Tree invasion’ fuelled South America’s fires
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Preparing for 3C
NEW ALERT: The EU’s climate advisory board urged countries to prepare for 3C of global warming, reported the Guardian. The outlet quoted Maarten van Aalst, a member of the advisory board, saying that adapting to this future is a “daunting task, but, at the same time, quite a doable task”. The board recommended the creation of “climate risk assessments and investments in protective measures”.
‘INSUFFICIENT’ ACTION: EFE Verde added that the advisory board said that the EU’s adaptation efforts were so far “insufficient, fragmented and reactive” and “belated”. Climate impacts are expected to weaken the bloc’s productivity, put pressure on public budgets and increase security risks, it added.
UNDERWATER: Meanwhile, France faced “unprecedented” flooding this week, reported Le Monde. The flooding has inundated houses, streets and fields and forced the evacuation of around 2,000 people, according to the outlet. The Guardian quoted Monique Barbut, minister for the ecological transition, saying: “People who follow climate issues have been warning us for a long time that events like this will happen more often…In fact, tomorrow has arrived.”
IEA ‘erases’ climate
MISSING PRIORITY: The US has “succeeded” in removing climate change from the main priorities of the International Energy Agency (IEA) during a “tense ministerial meeting” in Paris, reported Politico. It noted that climate change is not listed among the agency’s priorities in the “chair’s summary” released at the end of the two-day summit.
US INTERVENTION: Bloomberg said the meeting marked the first time in nine years the IEA failed to release a communique setting out a unified position on issues – opting instead for the chair’s summary. This came after US energy secretary Chris Wright gave the organisation a one-year deadline to “scrap its support of goals to reduce energy emissions to net-zero” – or risk losing the US as a member, according to Reuters.
Around the world
- ISLAND OBJECTION: The US is pressuring Vanuatu to withdraw a draft resolution supporting an International Court of Justice ruling on climate change, according to Al Jazeera.
- GREENLAND HEAT: The Associated Press reported that Greenland’s capital Nuuk had its hottest January since records began 109 years ago.
- CHINA PRIORITIES: China’s Energy Administration set out its five energy priorities for 2026-2030, including developing a renewable energy plan, said International Energy Net.
- AMAZON REPRIEVE: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has continued to fall into early 2026, extending a downward trend, according to the latest satellite data covered by Mongabay.
- GEZANI DESTRUCTION: Reuters reported the aftermath of the Gezani cyclone, which ripped through Madagascar last week, leaving 59 dead and more than 16,000 displaced people.
20cm
The average rise in global sea levels since 1901, according to a Carbon Brief guest post on the challenges in projecting future rises.
Latest climate research
- Wildfire smoke poses negative impacts on organisms and ecosystems, such as health impacts on air-breathing animals, changes in forests’ carbon storage and coral mortality | Global Ecology and Conservation
- As climate change warms Antarctica throughout the century, the Weddell Sea could see the growth of species such as krill and fish and remain habitable for Emperor penguins | Nature Climate Change
- About 97% of South American lakes have recorded “significant warming” over the past four decades and are expected to experience rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves | Climatic Change
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured

Repealing the US’s landmark “endangerment finding”, along with actions that rely on that finding, will slow the pace of US emissions cuts, according to Rhodium Group visualised by Carbon Brief. US president Donald Trump last week formally repealed the scientific finding that underpins federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, although the move is likely to face legal challenges. Data from the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm, shows that US emissions will drop more slowly without climate regulations. However, even with climate regulations, emissions are expected to drop much slower under Trump than under the previous Joe Biden administration, according to the analysis.
Spotlight
How a ‘tree invasion’ helped to fuel South America’s fires
This week, Carbon Brief explores how the “invasion” of non-native tree species helped to fan the flames of forest fires in Argentina and Chile earlier this year.
Since early January, Chile and Argentina have faced large-scale and deadly wildfires, including in Patagonia, which spans both countries.
These fires have been described as “some of the most significant and damaging in the region”, according to a World Weather Attribution (WWA) analysis covered by Carbon Brief.
In both countries, the fires destroyed vast areas of native forests and grasslands, displacing thousands of people. In Chile, the fires resulted in 23 deaths.

Multiple drivers contributed to the spread of the fires, including extended periods of high temperatures, low rainfall and abundant dry vegetation.
The WWA analysis concluded that human-caused climate change made these weather conditions at least three times more likely.
According to the researchers, another contributing factor was the invasion of non-native trees in the regions where the fires occurred.
The risk of non-native forests
In Argentina, the wildfires began on 6 January and persisted until the first week of February. They hit the city of Puerto Patriada and the Los Alerces and Lago Puelo national parks, in the Chubut province, as well as nearby regions.
In these areas, more than 45,000 hectares of native forests – such as Patagonian alerce tree, myrtle, coigüe and ñire – along with scrubland and grasslands, were consumed by the flames, according to the WWA study.
In Chile, forest fires occurred from 17 to 19 January in the Biobío, Ñuble and Araucanía regions.
The fires destroyed more than 40,000 hectares of forest and more than 20,000 hectares of non-native forest plantations, including eucalyptus and Monterey pine.
Dr Javier Grosfeld, a researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in northern Patagonia, told Carbon Brief that these species, introduced to Patagonia for production purposes in the late 20th century, grow quickly and are highly flammable.
Because of this, their presence played a role in helping the fires to spread more quickly and grow larger.
However, that is no reason to “demonise” them, he stressed.
Forest management
For Grosfeld, the problem in northern Patagonia, Argentina, is a significant deficit in the management of forests and forest plantations.
This management should include pruning branches from their base and controlling the spread of non-native species, he added.
A similar situation is happening in Chile, where management of pine and eucalyptus plantations is not regulated. This means there are no “firebreaks” – gaps in vegetation – in place to prevent fire spread, Dr Gabriela Azócar, a researcher at the University of Chile’s Centre for Climate and Resilience Research (CR2), told Carbon Brief.
She noted that, although Mapuche Indigenous communities in central-south Chile are knowledgeable about native species and manage their forests, their insight and participation are not recognised in the country’s fire management and prevention policies.
Grosfeld stated:
“We are seeing the transformation of the Patagonian landscape from forest to scrubland in recent years. There is a lack of preventive forestry measures, as well as prevention and evacuation plans.”
Watch, read, listen
FUTURE FURNACE: A Guardian video explored the “unbearable experience of walking in a heatwave in the future”.
THE FUN SIDE: A Channel 4 News video covered a new wave of climate comedians who are using digital platforms such as TikTok to entertain and raise awareness.
ICE SECRETS: The BBC’s Climate Question podcast explored how scientists study ice cores to understand what the climate was like in ancient times and how to use them to inform climate projections.
Coming up
- 22-27 February: Ocean Sciences Meeting, Glasgow
- 24-26 February: Methane Mitigation Europe Summit 2026, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 25-27 February: World Sustainable Development Summit 2026, New Delhi, India
Pick of the jobs
- The Climate Reality Project, digital specialist | Salary: $60,000-$61,200. Location: Washington DC
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), science officer in the IPCC Working Group I Technical Support Unit | Salary: Unknown. Location: Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Energy Transition Partnership, programme management intern | Salary: Unknown. Location: Bangkok, Thailand
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 20 February 2026: EU’s ‘3C’ warning | Endangerment repeal’s impact on US emissions | ‘Tree invasion’ fuelled South America’s fires appeared first on Carbon Brief.
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