The Iran War led to a decline in carbon emissions in 2026. It doesn’t mean we’ve turned a corner on fossil fuels

As the war in Iran raised global oil prices, oil emissions dropped and solar and wind power expanded. That led to a slight decrease in global greenhouse gas emissions in 2026. But it’s not a sign that we’ve turned the tide on fossil fuel use, experts warn. Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels are projected to decrease by 0.4% in 2026, according to a report presented at the COP31 climate talks hosted in Turkey and published in the journal Nature. That change was driven by a dr...