CNBC reports that according to the International Energy Agency, the energy-related carbon emissions are on track to surge by nearly 5% this year, reversing most of last year’s decline caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In the IEA’s Global Energy Review 2021 the group said global energy-related CO2 emissions were on course to rise to 33 billion metric tons this year, up 1.5 billion metric tons from 2020 levels.

It would reflect the single largest increase in emissions since 2010 and the second-largest increase in history.

“This is a dire warning that the economic recovery from the Covid crisis is currently anything but sustainable for our climate,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, said in the report.

“Unless governments around the world move rapidly to start cutting emissions, we are likely to face an even worse situation in 2022,” he added.

The report comes at a time when policymakers are under intensifying pressure to deliver on promises made as part of the Paris Agreement.