This document discusses carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from various perspectives. It provides global CO2 emission data over time, breakdowns of emissions by region, country, fuel type, and sector. It also discusses ways that CO2 can potentially be utilized, including in chemicals, fuels, enhanced oil recovery, concrete, algae fuels, and more. The costs and potential scale of these CO2 utilization methods vary widely.

1. emissions,CO2
emissions by fuel
type
& CO2 Utilisation

2. In discussions on climate change, we tend to focus on carbon dioxide (CO2) – the most dominant greenhouse gas
produced by the burning of fossil fuels, industrial production, and land use change. We cover CO2 – global
emissions, annual, cumulative, per capita, and consumption-based emissions.
Carbon dioxide emissions are the primary driver of global climate change. It’s widely recognised that to avoid the
worst impacts of climate change, the world needs to urgently reduce emissions. But, how this responsibility is shared
between regions, countries, and individuals has been an endless point of contention in international discussions.
This debate arises from the various ways in which emissions are compared:
1. as annual emissions by country;
2. emissions per person;
3. historical contributions;
• as annual emissions by country
• emissions per person;

3. Global CO2 emissions
How have global emissions of carbon dioxide
(CO2) changed over time?
• In this chart we see the growth of global
emissions from the mid-18th century through
to today.
• We see that prior to the Industrial Revolution,
emissions were very low. Growth in emissions
was still relatively slow until the mid-20th
century. In 1950 the world emitted just over 5
billion tonnes of (CO2) – about the same as the
US, or half of China’s annual emissions today.

4. • By 1990 this had
quadrupled to 22
billion tonnes.
Emissions have
continued to
grow rapidly; we
now emit over 36
billion tonnes
each year.
• Emissions growth
has slowed over
the last few
years, but they
have yet to reach
their peak.

5. CO2 emissions by region
• This interactive chart shows the
breakdown of global
CO2 emissions by region.
• In 1900, more than 90% of
emissions were produced in
Europe or the US; even by 1950,
they accounted for more than
85% of emissions each year.
• In the second half of the 20th
century we see a significant rise
in emissions in the rest of the
world, particularly across Asia,
and most notably, China.
• The US and Europe now account
for just under one-third of
emissions.

6. Per
capita CO2 emissions
• Where in the world does the average
person emit the most carbon dioxide
(CO2) each year?
We can calculate the contribution of the
average citizen of each country by
dividing its total emissions by its
population. This gives us CO2 emissions
per capita. In the visualization we see
the differences in per capita emissions
across the world.
The world’s largest per capita
CO2 emitters are the major oil producing
countries; this is particularly true for
those with relatively low population size.

7. • Most are in the Middle East: In 2017 Qatar had the highest emissions at 49 tonnes (t) per
person, followed by Trinidad and Tobago (30t); Kuwait (25t); United Arab Emirates (25t); Brunei
(24t); Bahrain (23t) and Saudi Arabia (19t).
• More populous countries with some of the highest per capita emissions – and therefore high total
emissions – are the United States, Australia, and Canada.
• Australia has an average per capita footprint of 17 tonnes, followed by the US at 16.2 tonnes,
and Canada at 15.6 tonnes.
• This is more than 3 times higher than the global average, which in 2017 was 4.8 tonnes per
person.
• some European countries have emissions not far from the global average: In 2017 emissions in
Portugal are 5.3 tonnes; 5.5t in France; and 5.8t per person in the UK. in 2015, only 6% of
France’s electricity came from fossil fuels, compared to 55% in Germany.

8. Annual CO2 emissions
Asia is by far the largest emitter,
accounting for 53% of global emissions.
As it is home to 60% of the world’s
population this means that per capita
emissions in Asia are slightly lower than
the world average.
China is, by a significant margin, Asia’s
and the world’s largest emitter: it emits
nearly 10 billion tonnes each year, more
than one-quarter of global emissions.
North America – dominated by the USA
– is the second largest regional emitter
at 18% of global emissions. It’s followed
closely by Europe with 17%.
Africa and South America are both fairly
small emitters: accounting for 3-4% of
global emissions each.

9. CO2 emissions by fuel
Type Coal, oil, gas, cement:
where do CO2 emissions
come from?
• Carbon dioxide emissions associated with energy and industrial production can
come from a range of fuel types. The contribution of each of these sources has
changed significantly through time, and still shows large differences by region
• At a global level we see that early industrialisation was dominated by the use
of solid fuel
• Coal-fired power at an industrial-scale was the first to emerge in Europe and
North America during the 1700s
• Asia’s energy remains dominant in solid fuel consumption, and has notably
higher cement contributions relative to other regions.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
from energy and material production
can arise from various sources and
fuel type: coal, oil, gas, cement
production and gas flaring.
As global and national energy
systems have transitioned over
centuries and decades, the
contribution of different fuel sources
to CO2 emissions has changed both
geographically and temporally.

10. CO2 emissions by fuel , world

11. Emissions from coal
>Annual CO2 emissions from coal
>Per capita CO2 emissions from coal

12. Emissions from oil

13. Emissions from gas

14. Emissions from cement production

15. Emissions from gas flaring

16. CO2 Emissions by Sector
•Power Industry - Electricity production comes mostly from burning fossil fuels, mostly coal and natural gas.
Greenhouse gas emissions from industry primarily come from burning fossil fuels for energy.
•Other Industrial Processes
•Transportation - from burning fossil fuel for cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes.
•Non-combustion -certain chemical reactions necessary to produce goods from raw materials, such as
cement production, carbonate use of limestone and dolomite, non-energy use of fuels and other combustion,
chemical and metal processes, solvents, agricultural liming and urea, waste and fossil fuel fires.
•Buildings - Commercial and residential. Greenhouse gas emissions from businesses and homes arise
primarily from fossil fuels burned for heat, the use of certain products that contain greenhouse gases, and the
handling of waste.
Excluded are: short-cycle biomass burning (such as agricultural waste burning), large-scale biomass burning
(such as forest fires) and carbon emissions/removals of land-use, land-use change and forestry.
Global Fossil CO2 Emissions by SectorPower Industry: 38.5 %​Power Industry: 38.5 %Non-combustion: 10.0
%​Non-combustion: 10.0 %Other industrial​combustion: 21.2 %​Other industrial​combustion: 21.2 %Transport:
20.9 %​Transport: 20.9 %Buildings: 9.4 %​Buildings: 9.4 %

18. C02 Emission Trends
• Global Fossil CO2 emissions were 35,753,305,000 tons in 2016.
• CO2 emissions increased by 0.34% over the previous year,
representing an increase by 122,227,000 tons over 2015, when CO2
emissions were 35,631,078,000 tons.
• CO2 emissions per capita worldwide are equivalent to 4.79 tons
per person (based on a world population of 7,464,022,049 in 2016),
a dicrease by -0.04 over the figure of 4.83 CO2 tons per person
registered in 2015; this represents a change of -0.8% in CO2
emissions per capita.

19. CO2 Utilisation:-
CO2 utilisation is an
industrial process that
makes an economically
valuable product using
CO2 at concentrations
above atmospheric
levels. CO2 is either
transformed using
chemical reactions into
materials, chemicals
and fuels, or it is used
directly in processes
such as enhanced oil
recovery.

20. 10 pathways
 CO2 chemicals
Reducing CO2 to its constituent components using catalysts and using chemical reactions to build
products, such as methanol, urea (to use as fertiliser) or polymers (for use as durable products in
buildings or cars), could utilise 0.3-0.6GtCO2 a year in 2050, at costs of between -$80 to $300 per
tonne of CO2.
 CO2 fuels
Combining hydrogen with CO2 to produce hydrocarbon fuels, including methanol, synfuels,
and syngas could address a huge market – for example, across existing transport infrastructure – but
the present-day costs are high. Together, CO2 fuels could utilise 1-4.2GtCO2 a year in 2050, but
costs are up to $670 per tonne of CO2.
 Microalgae
Using microalgae to fix CO2 at high efficiencies and then processing the biomass to make products,
such as fuels and high-value chemicals, has been the focus of research efforts for many years. With
complex production economics, costs are between $230 and $920 per tonne of CO2, and 2050
utilisation rates could be 0.2-0.9GtCO2 per year.

21. Concrete building materials
CO2 can be used to “cure” cement, or in the manufacture of aggregates. Doing so stores some
CO2 for the long term and could displace emissions-intensive conventional cement. With
accelerating global urbanisation, but a challenging regulatory environment, we estimate a
utilisation and storage potential of 0.1-1.4GtCO2 in 2050, with present day costs of between -
$30 and $70 per tonne of CO2.
CO2-enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
Injecting CO2 into oil wells can increase the production of oil. Normally, operators maximise oil
and CO2 recovered from the well, but, critically, it is possible to operate EOR so that more CO2
is injected and stored than is produced on consumption of the final oil product. We estimate that
0.1-1.8GtCO2 per year could be utilised and stored this way in 2050.
Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)
In bioenergy with carbon capture, the operator captures CO2 by growing trees, produces
electricity through bioenergy and sequesters the resulting emissions. With a rough
approximation of electricity revenues, we estimate utilisation costs of between $60 and $160 per
tonne of CO2. Some 0.5-5GtCO2 per year could be utilised and stored this way in 2050.

22. Enhanced weathering
Crushing rocks, such as basalt, and spreading them on land can result in the accelerated
formation of stable carbonate from atmospheric CO2. It is likely that doing this on agricultural
lands will result in enhanced yields. However, the very early-stage nature of this pathway means
that we have not made 2050 estimates for it.
Forestry
Timber from both new and existing forests is an economically valuable product that could
potentially store CO2 in buildings and, by doing so, displace cement use. We estimate that up to
1.5GtCO2 could be utilised in 2050 in this way, at costs of between -$40 and $10 per tonne
CO2.
Soil carbon sequestration
Land management techniques for soil carbon sequestration can not only store CO2 in the soil
but also enhance agricultural yields. We estimate that the CO2 utilised in the form of that
increased output might be as much as 0.9 to 1.9GtCO2 per year in 2050, at costs of -$90 to -$20
per tonne CO2.

23. Biochar
Biochar is “pyrolysed” biomass: plant material that has been burnt at high temperatures under
low oxygen levels. Biochar application to agricultural soils has the potential to increase crop
yields by 10% – but it is very hard to make a consistent product or predict soil reactions. We
estimate between 0.2 and 1GtCO2 could be utilised by biochar in 2050, at costs of around- $65
per tonne of CO2.