The chart above compares global fossil fuel CO₂ emissions by year in real-time.
Back in 1800, the world only produced 1 tonne of CO₂ from fossil fuels every second (10 tonnes in 10 seconds). In 1850, this had increased by a factor of 6 to 6 tonnes per second. Which is roughly equivalent to the amount the world’s volcanoes emit in the same amount of time.
Fast forward to 1900, this had increased nearly 10 times to 58 tonnes per second. By 1950 this had increased nearly 3 times again to 172 tonnes per second. By 1975 this had increased nearly 3 times again to 489 tonnes per second. By 2000, it was running at 706 tonnes per second. And as of 2018 stands at 1,176 tonnes per second!
However, as reddit user irreverent-username calculated the figures per capita, while awful are slightly less awful than above:
- 1800: 1 tonne per billion people per second
- 1850: 5 tonnes per billion people per second
- 1900: 36 tonnes per billion people per second
- 1950: 66 tonnes per billion people per second
- 1975: 119 tonnes per billion people per second
- 2000: 116 tonnes per billion people per second
- 2018: 146 tonnes per billion people per second
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Bengt Julin says
The Neil Kaye animation of the fossil fuel emissions (CO2) is excellent – but could be even better if it also included the total (net) emissions and/or uptake of CO2 in the global carbon cycle. Is that doable?
Thanks ! 😀
/Bengt Julin
Falun, Sweden