The world has passed peak per capital CO₂ emissions, but overall emissions are still rising

The world has passed peak per capital CO₂ emissions, but overall emissions are still rising

The world has passed peak per capita CO2 emissions, but overall emissions are still rising slowly. / bne IntelliNews

By Hannah Ritchie for Our World in Data December 3, 2024

The world has passed peak per capital CO₂ emissions, Our World in Data reported on December 3. However, overall emissions continue to rise.

To tackle climate change, the world needs to rapidly reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But before we reduce emissions, we need to stop them rising; the world needs to pass the peak.

Globally, total CO2 emissions are still slowly increasing. The Global Carbon Project has just released its preliminary estimates for 2024, which suggest another 0.8% increase.

However, while total emissions have not yet peaked, emissions per person have. Globally, per capita CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels peaked in 2012. When land use emissions – which are more uncertain and noisier – are included, they peaked in the 1970s and have fluctuated since then. You can see both trends in the chart.

This suggests that, globally, lifestyles are slowly decarbonising. However, to come closer to our global climate targets, economies must decarbonise much faster to push total emissions into decline.

Our World in Data provided a link to more information about CO₂ emissions: Explore the latest CO2 emissions data in our updated charts.

#REM #climatecrisis #ESG #bneGreen #BRICS #Brazil #Russia #China #India #SouthAfrica #G7

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