Global Carbon Project

The Global Carbon Project (GCP) is this organization that has fantastic infographics about our atmosphere, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. They use their graphics to integrates all the knowledge of greenhouse gases, human activities and the Earth system. They were founded in 2001 to fully understand the carbon cycle on our planet. Their projects include global budgets for the three dominant greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) and track growth in and source of emissions, performance against the Paris Accord commitments and efforts in urban, regional, cumulative, and negative emissions.

GCP also produces the Global Carbon Atlas to visualize all their research. Both sites are a wonder to peruse and truly understand where we are as a planet. I recommend that you follow the links and take a look at some of their offerings. Below I have picked out some of their recent highlights, I am a little more discouraged than they appear to be.

After a significant drop in emissions in 2020 due to Covid-19 shutdowns, fossil CO2 emissions in 2021 appear to have just about  returned to pre-COVID levels. CO2 emissions were 36.4 billion tonnes in 2021 compared to 36.7 billion tonnes in 2019.  CO2 emissions for the United States and the European Union (EU27) though higher than 2020 are still below 2019. However, the CO2 emissions for India and China are above the 2019 levels. , the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked further growth in CO2 emissions, pushed by the power generation and manufacturing sectors.

From the GCP infographic

China, the United States, European Union and India are the major emitters of CO2 from fossil fuels in 2021. All  appear to be returning to their pre-COVID emissions trends- a decreasing trend in CO2 emissions for the USA and European Union and an increasing trend in CO2 emissions for China and India. For China, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked an increased growth rate in CO2 emissions, pushed by the power and industry sectors.

CO2 emissions from China in 2021 are projected to be 5.5% above 2019 levels, reaching 11.1 billion tonnes- over 30% of total world emissions. India's CO2 emissions are projected to grow even faster than China's this year at 12.6%, after a 7.3% fall last year. This resulted in an increase of 4.5% from 2019. Emissions from both the US and European Union are projected to rise 7.6% in 2021. USA and EU, respectively, accounted for just over14% and 7% of global emissions in 2021. Emissions in the rest of the world (including all international transport, particularly aviation) are projected to rise 2.9% this year, but remain 4.2% below 2019 levels. Together, these countries and transport represent 59% of global emissions.

from the GCP