United Nations Economic Comission for Europe, UNECE, has published a comprehensive Life Cycle Analysis of greenhouse gas emission ranges for various electricity generation technologies. The study includes everything from mining, transport, power plant building, operations and so on. The study also covers toxicity, radiation, land occupation, and water use. Key findings:
An analysis by Fraunhofer Institute shows that battery electric drives are superior to hydrogen fuel cells for commercial road transport.
The study shows that battery electric drive is superior in terms of electricity efficiency: 75% of the electrical energy reaches the wheels compared to only 25% in fuel cell vehicles. Electrical loss in electrolysis and in the fuel cell are to blame.
Furthermore, with megawatt charging becoming standardized in 2023, and with EU regulations requiring truck drivers to stop for 45 minutes after 4.5 hours of driving, a range of 450 km would suffice with charging during the 45 minute breaks.
The author of the study also points out that cost of ownership will be higher for fuel cell electric trucks.
Truck manufacturer Scania states that "We see that battery electric solutions are the first zero-tailpipe emission technology to reach market broadly. For the customer, a battery electric vehicle requires less service than a conventional one, meaning higher uptime and improved costs per km or hour of operations"
The US Dept of Energy report from June 14 2021 concludes that scheduled maintenance costs for battery electric vehicles are 6.1 cents/mile, while a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle has costs of 10.1 cents/mile. Fewer moving parts and fewer fluids explain the differences in maintenance costs.
Abbreviations used:
UCS - Union of Concerned Scientists presents research which shows that there are enough reserves of lithium, cobolt and nickel if recycling of EV batteries is scaled up.
Without recycling, demand in 2060 will exceed available cobolt reserves and will require about 90% of lithium reserves. Important: 'Reserves' are resources that are economical to extract. Without recycling, material costs will increase.
Recycling also has environmental benefits: "By using recycled instead of newly mined materials, reduction of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions is approximately 64%"
The chart shows that almost half of the cobolt and nickel and a quarter of the lithium required in the US in 2050 can be supplied through recycling of used EV batteries.
IEA Global Methane Tracker 2022 states that reduction in methane (CH4) emissions are key to limit near-term warming and to improve air quality. Annual global methane emissions are around 580 Mt, of which 40% is from natural sources such as wetlands. The remaining 60% is from human activity.
The global warming impact of methane is 28 times that of CO2 in a 100-year perspective, and 80 times theat of CO2 in a 20-year perspective. In other words, 580 Mt CH4 emissions equals 16.24 Gt CO2 in a 100-year perspective.
PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency presents an overview of total greenhouse gas emissions for the last 50 years. This includes CO2 methane (CO4) nitrous oxide (N20) and fluorinated gases (F-gases).
Global emissions decreased by 3.7% in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic recession.
The November 11 report from Global Carbon Project includes data on emissions from countries and regions of the world.
Note that this chart does not include land-use or land-use change emissions, and it does not include any other greenhouse-gas emissions.
In the November 11 report from Global Carbon Project we see that global CO2 emissions are back at pre-pandemic levels.
"Preliminary data for 2022 show an increase in fossil CO2 emissions relative to 2021 of +1.0% (range 0.1% to 1.9%) globally, primarily driven by growth in oil use from the delayed rebound of aviation since the COVID-19 pandemic."
Global Carbon Project says that the rate of emissions increase has been about 0.5% in the last decade, compared to a rate of increase of 3% per year in the decade prior.
Note that this chart does not include land-use or land-use change emissions, and it does not include any other greenhouse-gas emissions.
This chart contains three datasets:
energiogklima.no
reports record installation of Solar PV panels in Norway.
Data from
According to the the web-site, the record high cost of electric power is the main driver for the growth in Solar PV installations.
Norway still lags far behind Sweden and Denmark. Installed capacity in Sweden was 1798 MW at end of 2021, and in Denmark it was 2344 MW end of 2021.
According to Global CCS Institute there are 30 large-scale CCS projects in operation at end-of-2021, capturing 42.6 million tons CO2 annually, an increase over 2019 (38 MtCO2). The captured CO2 is about 0.1% of global CO2 emissions.
Most of the captured CO2 is used for EOR - Enhanced Oil Recovery: Injection of CO2 into oil wells in order to extract more oil. IEA estimates that this accounts for an extra 500.000 barrels of oil per day, which equals 78 million tons CO2 emissions per year.
According to Carbon capture and storage at the end of a lost decade in order to meet IEA's sustainable development scenario, 5.6 gigatonnes CO2 per year must be captured and stored by 2050.
The chart lists all commercial operational CCS projects as of 2022.
In the Living Planet Report 2022 WWF and ZSL (Zoological Society of London) writes that the relative abundance of wildlife populations has been reduced by 69% since 1970. Latin America is hardest hit with a 94% reduction in wildlife. Freshwater wildlife has seen the greatest global decline with 83%
The Index tracks almost 32000 wildlife populations.
NOAA/ESRL (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Earth Systems Research Laboratory) operates the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, and are collects atmospheric data every hour since the 1950s. The data shows how atmospheric CO2 levels are steadily increasing. In pre-industrial times, the CO2 levels varied between 180ppm and 280ppm.
Notice the saw-tooth pattern in the chart: There are more forests in the Northern hemisphere than in the Southern hemisphere. During the northern winter, the forests release CO2 to the atmospere. When spring comes in the north, forests starts consuming CO2 as part of photosynthesis and this reduces the level in the atmosphere.
The chart is updated monthly.
CarbonBrief has summarized 20 studies on emissions from electric-car battery production. One of the findings is that the manufacturing location is an important factor in determining the CO2-footprint of these batteries. As some Asian countries rely more on coal for electricity generation, the result is that batteries made in Asia have a bigger CO2-footprint than batteries made in Europe or USA.
IEA reports that global electricity demand increased by more than 6% in 2021, straining supply chains for coal and gas resulting in increased prices.
The chart shows the year-on-year change in electricity generation. The numbers for 2022 and later are IEA estimates.
The biggest increase in electricity generation came from coal power plants.
Units are in terawatt hours, TWh
NETL published an updated life cycle analysis LNG export from the US to Europe, with comparisons to regional Eurpoean coal and Russian pipeline gas.
The units are gram CO2 equivalents per kWh of electricity generated.
This chart shows the emissions in a 20-year global warming time frame. The data for coal is for regionally produced coal. A key assumption is 4.1% leakage rate for Russian pipeline gas
NRDC has analysed five life cycle studies of green house gas emissions from gas produced in USA, exported to Europe and Asia, and then used for electricity generation. The studies were from
A key difference in the studies are the methane leakage rates: Carnegie Mellon assumes 2-4%, NETL assumes 0.7 to 1.6% leakage.
This chart shows the emissions in a 20-year global warming time frame. The data for coal is for regionally produced coal.
CEENERGYNEWS refers to a study by Sphera, which shows that the environmental impact of LNG imports to South-East Europe are vastly higher than pipeline gas imports. The study looked at LNG imports from Algeria, Australia, Qatar, and USA, which had between 61% and 176% more emissions than pipeline gas imports from Russia via the TurkStream pipeline.
Liquefaction of gas is the main reason. However, the LNG carrier (ship) is also a major contributor for imports from Australia and USA simply because of the fuel used by the ships.
The US Energy Information Agency EIA writes: In 2020, US power plants burning coal, oil and gas generated about 62% of total electricity generation, and accounted for 99% of US electricity related CO2-emissions.
This chart is an excerpt of a list regularly published by Netherlands Enterprise Agency, we have used the January 2020 version.
The units are grams CO2 per MJ of energy. This is of course the same as kilograms of CO2 per GJ of energy.
The various grades of coal ranked from high to low are: Anthracite (hard coal), Coking coal, Bitumenous coal, Subbitumenous coal, Lignite (brown coal).
Dr Volker Quaschning, Professor for renewable energy systems at Berlin University of Applied Sciences lists the specific CO2 emissions for different fuels for 1 kWh of electricity produced.
The emissions calculations "include upstream chain emissions", and are from the publication UBA 2019 - Emissionsbilanz erneuerbarer Energieträger 2018 (p. 42f.)
UBA is the German Environment Agency, a federal government agency.
While CO2 emissions have increased from 35 to 41 million tons per year since 1990, emissions of perfluorocarbons (PFC) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) from the aluminum and magnesium industries are now close to 0. Emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) from air-con and cooling systems have increased, but this should be sharply reduced soon as new coolants with lower global warming potential are used. More on this at Ministry of Climate and Environment.
Oil and gas production represents about 27% of total Norwegian emissions. These emissions are expected to be reduced in the future at the cost of higher global emissions, when on-shore hydroelectric power replaces off-shore gas turbines for powering oil and gas extraction. Numbers are in million tons CO2 equivalents.
Norway has committed to reducing emissions in 2030 by 50% compared to 1990.
According to fossil fuel and cement production emissions data provided by the Global Carbon Project there was a record decrease in emissions in 2020, 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2). Emissions are projected to grow 4.9% in 2021, or 1.6 GtCO2.
While emissions for EU and USA will remain under 2019 levels in 2021, emissions from China are projected to be 5.5% above 2019 levels in 2021. Coal remains the number one source of CO2.
BloombergNEF's annual battery price survey finds that battery packs fell by 6% from 2020 to 2021 and by 80% from 2013 to 2021. However they also write that increasing commodity prices are having an impact on prices in the near term.
The survey looks at battery packs and battery cells for electric vehicles, buses and energy storage projects. Battery pack prices were lowest in China at $111 per kWh, prices in US and EU were 40 to 60% higher.
BloombergNEF also says: "...by 2024 average pack prices should be below $100/kWh. It is at around this price point that automakers should be able to produce and sell mass-market EVs at the same price (and with the same margin) as comparable internal combustion vehicles in some markets"
The EU ETS (Emissions Trading System) covers all EU member states plus Norway and Liechtenstein. Companies in the power generation and manufacturing sectors are required by EU law to purchase emission allowances for their greenhouse gas emissions. These allowances may be traded on the open market. There is a cap on the number of allowances in the market. The number of allowances is reduced over time, forcing a reduction in emissions.
The chart shows the market closing price of WisdomTree Carbon ETC (exchange traded commodity) which is designed to track the value of EU Emissions Allowances. The Y-axis is the approximate price per EU Emissions Allowance in Euros per ton of CO2-equivalents.
The major drop in price in late February 2022 was due to the russian invasion of Ukraine.
NVE, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, regularly updates assumptions on energy production for various technologies. The chart is based on data from January 31, 2022.
The chart shows LCOE (levelized cost of electricity) for new installations in 2021 and 2030, in NOK per kWh. LCOE is the cost per kWh for the entire lifetime of a new electricity generating plant, and includes investments, operations and fuels. LCOE excludes tax incentives.
Onshore wind is currently the least expensive energy source for new installations, and will continue to decrease in cost dramatically over the next decade. Perhaps surprisingly, even in Norway solar photovoltaic ground installations are becoming competitive and will be less expensive than all other electricity sources except for onshore wind.
Methane (CH4) is a powerful greenhouse gas, with a global heating potential 25 times that of CO2. Sources of methane are natural gas manufacturing, agriculture, waste management, coal mining and more. About two thirds of methane emissions are from human activities. NOAA tracks the atmospheric levels of methane using a global network of monitoring sites.
The US Environmental Protection Agency EPA has a good overview of the various greehouse gases and their impact.
Methane levels are measured in ppb (parts per billion). The chart is updated monthly.
World population is currently 7.7 billion. The UN projects that the number of people on earth will reach about 11 billion in year 2100, and will then remain stable.
Virtually all the future population growth will be in Africa, where the population will grow by 3 billion from 1.3 to 4.3 billion.
According to October 2020 data from the US Energy Information Administration EIA, global production of natural gas is accelerating. Other charts on our site confirm this, and show that gas is in fact the main driver of increased CO2 emissions globally, ahead of coal and oil.
Production numbers are in BCM - Billion cubic meters
Note: EIA uses the term Eurasia to denote the countries in the former Soviet Union
According to August 2021 data from the US Energy Information Administration EIA, global coal production declined in 2020 compared to 2019. Peak coal production was in 2013. China alone represents 45% of total global coal production. US coal production is slowly declining.
The chart shows annual coal production in million metric tons since 1980. For more on peak coal, read Forbes article on coal demand
Note: EIA uses the term Eurasia to denote the countries in the former Soviet Union
With reduced travel and reduced economic activity, global CO2 emissions might be lower than previous years. However, even slightly reduced CO2 emissions add to the overall CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
The chart uses data from NOAA ESRL Global Monitoring Division, Boulder, Colorado, USA and shows the atmospheric CO2 levels for each of the last 10 years. Ever since measurements started there has been a consistent increase in atmospheric CO2 of about 0.5 - 0.6% per year.
The atmospheric CO2 levels continues increasing year over year, as indicated by the upper line in the chart. This chart is updated daily based on measurements from the Mauna Loa Observatory.
This chart is based on data from the US Energy Information Administration EIA. The increase in global electricity generation is mainly due to China.
Figures in this chart are in 1000 TWh (terawatt hours)
Note: EIA uses the term Eurasia to denote the countries in the former Soviet Union
University of Oxford's Our World in Data has looked at the number of deaths per TWh (terawatt-hour) of electricity generated from different sources. Data includes accidents and longer term effects due to pollution and radiation, but does not include effects of CO2 emissions and global warming. Brown coal is the deadliest power-generator with more than 32 deaths per TWh, mainly due to air pollution. This is 1000 times as many deaths as wind, hydro and solar. For the same amount of energy generated, even natural gas causes about 100 times as many deaths as renewable sources.
Nuclear power has a relatively low mortality rate, even when the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents are included. Our World in Data uses the IAEA/WHO estimate for Chernobyl-related deaths, 4000. This chart uses a higher estimate, 45.000, based on the TORCH report
According to April 30 2021 data from the US Energy Information Administration EIA, global oil production is now about 92 million barrels per day, down from 98 mb/d in 2019.
According to the International Energy Agency IEA , global oil demand will reach 104 million barrels per day in 2026. The growth in demand will come from emerging and developing countries, with Asian oil demand increasing sharply. OECD demand is not expected to return to pre-Covid levels.
Note: EIA uses the term Eurasia to denote the countries in the former Soviet Union
Ozone is a colorless gas present in the upper atmosphere which absorbs UV radiation from the sun. Reduced atmospheric ozone leads to sunburn, eye damage and skin cancer. Without any ozone at all there would be no life on earth. CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) gases typically used in refrigerators destroy ozone molecules. In 1989, all UN members ratified the Montreal Protocol , agreeing to phase out the production of ozone depleting gases.
NASA Ozone Watch tracks the size of the ozone hole over the Antarctic and the Arctic. The Antarctic ozone hole reaches its peak size in September/October. The chart shows the mean size of the hole during this period, in millions of square km.
Data from The Norwegian Meteorological Institute and The Norwegian Centre for Climate Services indicate that temperatures in the Arctic, as measured at Svalbard Airport (78.24 degrees North), are now at least 5°C higher than 50-100 years ago. The increased temperature in the Arctic leads to thawing of the permafrost, which in turn releases CO2 and methane currently trapped in the permafrost.
Annual mean temperature for 1961-1990 was -6.7°C according to yr.no
The report Climate in Svalbard 2100 by NCCS is an excellent overview of future climate impact in the Arctic.
Global mean sea levels have increased by over 200mm since the late 1800's. Data from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is updated continously and show a statistically significant acceleration since measurements started.
The dataset covering 1880-2009 is based on measurements from a large number of stations (38 stations in 1900, 235 stations in the 1980s). The dataset from 1993 and onwards uses satellite technology. Units in mm (millimeters). Chart is updated monthly.
Ourworldindata has an excellent article based on Poore and Nemecek 2018, based on data from 38000 farms in 119 countries. This is the most thorough analysis of farming and green house gas emissions to date.
The data represents global averages, hence there may be significant local differences. Interestingly, at a global level transport represents a small amount of the GHG emissions.
The data also shows that nuts and a few other foods have a negative land use change figure, as carbon is stored in the trees. Most other food sources require deforestation.
Data is reported as greenhouse gas emissions in kilograms of CO2-equivalents per 1 kilogram of food product.
According to research by K.L.Law et.al. the top plastic waste producing countries in the world are USA and United Kingdom. USA generates 130 kg plastic waste per person every year - this is about 2.5 kg per person per week.
While EU citizens generate less than half of the waste compared to Americans it is still more than 1 kg per week for every person. India and China are also big polluters but not on a per capita basis with about 20 kg and 16 kg per person per year.
The units in this chart are kg per person per year.
OECD/FAO agricultural outlook shows how western countries consume far more meat than the world average. Top meat consuming countries are USA, Israel, Argentina, Australia with 90-100 kg meat per capita per year. Argentina is the top beef-consuming country with almost 40 kg beef per capita. Israel is top poultry consumer with 64 kg per capita.
Consumption data is reported in kilograms per capita, using ready-to-cook retail weight.
OECD/FAO agricultural outlook shows how meat consumption is increasing globally. The reduction in consumption in 2019 is due to the African Swine Fever outbreak in Asia.
Consumption data is reported in kilograms per capita, using ready-to-cook retail weight.
According to Global CCS Institute there are 26 large-scale CCS projects in operation at end-of-2020, capturing 38 million tons CO2 annually, no increase over 2019. The captured CO2 is less than 0.1% of global CO2 emissions.
Most of the captured CO2 (30 million tons) is used for EOR - Enhanced Oil Recovery: Injection of CO2 into oil wells in order to extract more oil. IEA estimates that this accounts for an extra 500.000 barrels of oil per day, which equals 78 million tons CO2 emissions per year.
According to Carbon capture and storage at the end of a lost decade in order to meet IEA's sustainable development scenario, 5.6 gigatonnes CO2 per year must be captured and stored by 2050.
The chart lists all commercial operational CCS projects as of 2020. Those in red color use captured CO2 for EOR. Those in grey have stopped operations.
A 2020 report from EMA shows that sales of antibiotics declined by 34% between 2011 and 2018. Figures are reported as 'mg per PCU', where 1 PCU is a metric ton of slaughtered animals (includes farmed fish).
Usage of antibiotics varies widely between countries.
A 2019 report from Eindhoven University 2019 shows that battery electric cars have significantly lower CO2 emissions compared to similar fossil-fueled cars over their lifetime using the EU electricity mix.
Key assumptions: Driving distance 250.000 km. Battery manufacturing: 85 kg CO2 per kWh. Fossil fuel consumption based on spritmonitor.de and US EPA. Well-to-tank emissions add 30% to tailpipe emissions. Emissions per litre: 3310g (diesel), 3140g (gasoline). EU eletricity generation emissions: 250g CO2e/kWh.
The report assumes an EU electricity mix is used, but also that this electricity mix will continue its trend towards lower CO2 emissions. The Polestar report below does not make this assumption, and probably overestimates the emissions of electric cars.
Units on the Y-axis are number of tons CO2 equivalents.
In their own 2019 report, Polestar says that the Polestar 2 BEV (battery electric vehicle) has lower CO2 emissions during its lifetime than a Volvo XC40 ICE (internal combustion engine).
Assumptions in the report: Cars are driven 200.000 km in their lifetime. Chinese electricity mix is used for Polestar 2 manufacturing. Polestar 78kWh/350kg battery cells are manufactured in China and Korea. Emissions for the XC40 163 gCO2/km includes 'well-to-tank' related emissions for petrol/gasoline. Electricity use Polestar: 198 Wh/km
The report finds that if the electricity is generated by wind power then the Polestar generates less than half of the CO2 emissions of an XC40 petrol/gasoline powered car. If the electricity is generated using an EU electricity mix then the emissions savings over the lifetime of the car is about 27%.
Units on the Y-axis are number of tons CO2 equivalents.
This chart shows the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) as estimated by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. While the power used by the Bitcoin blockchain varies with transactions, if Bitcoin power consumption is 120 TWh per year, this is almost 0.5% of global electricity generation which was about 25 000 TWh in 2018 (see another chart on this page).
The chart is updated daily.
The NASA GISTEMPv4 dataset shows that the global average surface temperature in 2020 was equal to the temperature in 2016 - these are the two warmest years ever.
The HadCRUT4 dataset from Climatic Research Unit, Univ of East Anglia and Hadley Centre (UK Met Office) shows the same trend. Note that the HadCRUT dataset refers to the average of 1961-1990, so it is slightly offset compared to the NASA dataset. This chart is updated monthly.
The UAH dataset from NSSTC, University of Alabama uses 1981-2010 as the reference so it offset from the other datasets, but is shows a similar increase in global temperatures.
The Global E-Waste Statistics Partnership has published the Global E-Waste Monitor 2020 which shows that in 2019, the world generated 53.6 million tons of e-waste, or 7.3 kg of e-waste per person on earth.
The amount of e-waste generated has grown by 20% since 2014, and is expected to keep growing. Rich countries generate more e-waste per person than poor countries, with Norway generating the most. About 17.4% of all e-waste is documented to be recycled, unchanged since 2014.
The numbers in the chart are kilograms of waste per capita per year.
This chart uses data from World Resources Institute and shows which sectors greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N20, etc) emissions originate from.
WRI provides an even more detailed analysis into each sector. As an example, while 15.9% of emissions are from transport, road transport is by far the largest contributor (11.9%) with air transport at 1.9% and ship at 1.7%. Rail contributes only 0.4%
This chart uses data from Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (JHU CSSE) and shows the current top 20 countries hardest hit by Covid-19 in terms of confirmed deaths per one million inhabitants. Countries with less than 50000 inhabitants are not included.
This chart is updated every 24 hours. JHU CSSE updates their data around midnight UTC, this chart is automatically updated shortly thereafter.
This chart uses data from Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (JHU CSSE) and shows the daily number of confirmed Covid-19 Coronavirus deaths, averaged over 7 days. The chart is updated every 24 hours.
A report from the US Energy Information Administration has estimated the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) generation for new plants coming online in the United States in 2025. LCOE includes all aspects of building and running plants such as financial costs, fuel, operations, management and more.
Photovoltaic solar plants will be the least expensive, with roughly the same costs as geothermal, combined cycle natural gas, and onshore wind turbines.
Coal-fired plants will remain an expensive option. As another post on our site shows, offshore wind costs are decreasing rapidly but remain high in the near term.
IRENA has published a detailed study on the cost of utility-scale power generation at a global level based on renewable resources. The report shows a clear trend in LCOE (levelised cost of electricity, which includes financial costs, operations, management etc) for renewable power generation: New solar and wind power plants are now less expensive than most coal-fired plants. Since 2019, the cost of utility scale solar power has decreased by 82%
According to IRENA, the comparable costs for fossil fuel based power plants varies from 0.05 $/kWh (new Chinese coal-fired plants located close to coal mines) to 0.177 $/kWh.