The time-dependent evolution of the energy transfer into gas heating in the afterglow of pulsed CO2 and CO2-N-2 glow discharges produced in cylindrical tubes at low pressures (1-5 Torr) is theoretically investigated, by developing a self-consistent model that couples the time-dependent gas thermal balance equation with the vibrational kinetics. The modelling predictions are in good agreement with recently published experimental data on gas temperature, obtained via time-resolved in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The cooling of the gas in the afterglow is found to be strongly dependent on the thermal conductivity and the wall temperature. It is verified that wall and volume deactivation of CO2 vibrationally excited species influences the gas heating along the afterglow, in different proportions depending on the pressure of the gas. The time-resolved contributions of each of these cooling and heating mechanisms are discussed in detail. The new results bring an additional validation of a set of mechanisms and rate coefficients for vibrationally-energy transfers previously proposed.