Carbon Monitor, a near-real-time daily dataset of global CO2 emission from fossil fuel and cement production

Abstract

We constructed a near-real-time daily CO₂ emission dataset, the Carbon Monitor, to monitor the variations in CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production since January 1, 2019, at the national level, with near-global coverage on a daily basis and the potential to be frequently updated. Daily CO₂ emissions are estimated from a diverse range of activity data, including the hourly to daily electrical power generation data of 31 countries, monthly production data and production indices of industry processes of 62 countries/regions, and daily mobility data and mobility indices for the ground transportation of 416 cities worldwide. Individual flight location data and monthly data were utilized for aviation and maritime transportation sector estimates. In addition, monthly fuel consumption data corrected for the daily air temperature of 206 countries were used to estimate the emissions from commercial and residential buildings. This Carbon Monitor dataset manifests the dynamic nature of CO₂ emissions through daily, weekly and seasonal variations as influenced by workdays and holidays, as well as by the unfolding impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Carbon Monitor near-real-time CO₂ emission dataset shows a 8.8% decline in CO₂ emissions globally from January 1^st to June 30^th in 2020 when compared with the same period in 2019 and detects a regrowth of CO₂ emissions by late April, which is mainly attributed to the recovery of economic activities in China and a partial easing of lockdowns in other countries. This daily updated CO₂ emission dataset could offer a range of opportunities for related scientific research and policy making.

Fig. 1

Framework for data processing.

Fig. 2

Daily CO₂ emissions data from January 1^st, 2019 to June 30^th, 2020.

Fig. 3

Residential and commercial building daily natural gas consumption (linearly related to CO₂ emissions from this sector) in France for the last 5 years. Temperature effects have been removed from emissions using a linear piecewise model fitted to daily data. When the effect of variable winter temperature was removed, no significant change is seen in 2020 during the very strict lockdown period except for a small dip by end of March.