Shane White at worldenergydata.org has an excellent, data-driven site about global and country-by-country emissions and energy use trends, as well as a newsfeed and a primer on climate change:
- World energy trends: worldenergydata.org/world-energy-trends
- Country energy trends: worldenergydata.org/country-energy-trends
- Greenhouse emissions: worldenergydata.org/greenhouse-gas-emissions
- Climate change: worldenergydata.org/climate-change
- Newsfeed: worldenergydata.org/the-anthropocene
The big picture, as illustrated below, is that global fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, after a Covid blip, and the production of coal, oil and gas all reached record highs in 2023. The most recent IEA report projects emissions peaking by 2030, though the 2023 UN Production Gap report suggested it could be a few years later than that.
And the country-by-country breakdown shows China’s emissions at more than 30% of the global total, more than double that of the USA in second place, and quadruple that of India in third place. Australia comes in at number 17, with 1.1% of global emissions.
Chart 1: Global fossil fuel CO2 emissions to 2023; and national shares
Chart 2: Global fossil fuel production
A closer look at China, illustrated below, emphasises the size of the task ahead. China is by far the biggest producer of renewable energy infrastructure, especially solar panels, and its electric vehicle industry is growing very fast.
Despite this, the latest data shows that 60% of China’s energy consumption and 64% of electricity generation was fossil fuelled. Electricity constituted 28% of China’s energy consumption in 2021 (latest data), higher than the global share of 21%.
Chart 3: China energy consumption and electricity generation for the most recent year of data
As for the change of fuels in the electricity sector, what is noticeable is the increasing role of wind and solar (offset to some extent in 2023 by a fall in hydro), with a big jump in new wind and solar since 2021. This was complimented by both fossil fuelled and coal fired electricity generation setting new records in 2023.
Chart 4: China annual change of fuels in energy generation 2010–2023
Chart 5: China annual electricity generation by category 2000–2023
Chart 6: China annual electricity generation by fuel 2000–2023
