As world leaders gather in Brazil for the annual UN climate conference, efforts have intensified to find solutions to the rising global temperatures wreaking havoc across the world.
Thirty years after the first COP event in Berlin The climate alarm has been sounded, emissions are reaching new heights. Here’s how much global warming has already changed the planet.
#1 Which sectors emit the most CO2?
Governments are promising to move toward net-zero or carbon neutral economies by 2050, meaning they aim to balance the greenhouse gases they produce with those they remove from the atmosphere. This chart shows that emissions in Europe and the US are stagnating and emissions in Asia and Africa are increasing There is still a long way to go to decarbonize economies.
But absolute emissions only tell half the story. The population in Asian countries has increased in the last decades. more people This means higher consumption of resources.
The picture changes when looked at from a per capita CO2 perspective. Considering population size, both Western countries receive more attention America and Australia as well as nations in other parts of the world including Saudi Arabia, Oman UAE, USA and Canada,
experts rich countries argue , Especially those that have historically contributed most to global CO2 levels , There is a big responsibility to reduce emissions.
The infographic below shows that average emissions per capita are higher in richer countries, although there are large variations within each income group.,
global top emitter qatar It emits much more CO2 per capita than countries like Germany and France, even though they are in the same income group. This shows that wealth can be separated from emissions.
And Although countries like India and China rank low in terms of per capita emissions, their decisions have a big impact, given their huge population numbers (bubble size).
#2 What are the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions?
But 29%, The power sector, which generates and distributes the energy that runs our lives and economy, is the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The next place is the industrial sector, which produces the goods we use every day. it is responsible for (22%) Overall gas greenhouse – including CO2, Methane and nitrous oxide – released into the atmosphere.
Forests are important for climate stability. Due to their ability to absorb they are known as “carbon sinks”. Huge amounts of CO2 from our atmosphere, which gets stored in their trees and soil. It is released into the atmosphere when they are cut, burned or destroyed.
Above Over the past two decades, the annual amount of tree cover lost has gradually increased. Russia, Brazil and Canada Were The biggest drivers of deforestation in the world 2024,
#3 How have CO2 emissions evolved over the past centuries?
CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels have been rising steadily since the early days of the Industrial Revolution. First, as humans produced carbon dioxide at high levels, the Earth absorbed it in natural “carbon sinks” such as forests and oceans.
But as humanity began producing more CO2 and other greenhouse gases than the planet’s ecosystems could naturally absorb, more of those emissions became trapped in the atmosphere. This is shown in the red area below.
#4 How hot has the world already been?
As CO2 concentrations increase, they trap the Sun’s heat in the atmosphere, warming the planet like a greenhouse,
Compare By the average of the 20th century, global temperatures had increased By About 1.3 degree Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) in 2024.
This change is measured by calculating the difference between the temperatures Observed at a specific time and location and the historical average of that same location.
1.3-The degree Celsius increase in temperature is the global average of those variations. This difference can be very large locally or for individual months. For example, September 2025 about what 2 degrees Celsius warmer than September 1956.
These rising temperatures are making already more intense and frequent events like deadly heat waves, dangerous storms and droughts that destroy crops. And if temperatures continue to rise, conditions will worsen.
Sea level rise is one of the most noticeable effects of global warming. Higher temperatures cause ice caps and glaciers to melt, increasing the total amount of water in the oceans.
#5 How much have sea levels already risen?
sea levels have risen About 25 centimeters (9.8 in) over the past 140 years, according to data compiled by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the Australian government’s scientific research agency. About a third of that growth occurred in the last quarter of the century.
Sea levels are rising around the world. But this trend is most pronounced in the Arctic, which is warming faster than everywhere else.
At the same time, the world’s oceans are warming. Water expands when heated, which contributes to sea level rise.
While sea levels are rising across much of the world and are higher than at other times in history, changes Not the same everywhere. This is due to Earth’s uneven gravity field as well as ocean dynamics such as wind, heat and evaporation.
In some places, such as western Canada and northern Chile, tide gauges show stable or even receding seas. But in other areas, such as the islands of the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, sea levels are rising at an alarming rate. For these low-lying islands, the risk is so severe that some may disappear beneath the waves.
Edited by: Anke Rasper, Tamsin Walker and Jennifer Collins.
This is an updated version of an article originally published during COP26 in 2021.