Global Fossil-Fuel CO₂ Emissions

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Trends

Since 1751 approximately 337 billion tons of carbon have been released to the atmosphere from the consumption of fossil fuels and cement production. Half of these emissions have occurred since the mid 1970s. The 2007 global fossil-fuel carbon emission estimate, 8365 million metric tons of carbon, represents an all-time high and a 1.7% increase from 2006.

Globally, liquid and solid fuels accounted for 76.3% of the emissions from fossil-fuel burning and cement production in 2007. Combustion of gas fuels (e.g., natural gas) accounted for 18.5% (1551 million metric tons of carbon) of the total emissions from fossil fuels in 2007 and reflects a gradually increasing global utilization of natural gas. Emissions from cement production (377 million metric tons of carbon in 2007) have more than doubled since the mid 1970s and now represent 4.5% of global CO₂ releases from fossil-fuel burning and cement production. Gas flaring, which accounted for roughly 2% of global emissions during the 1970s, now accounts for less than 1% of global fossil-fuel releases.