Data Summary

Fossil Fuel Production

In 2023, coal, oil and gas production all reached record highs¹.

Only 9 countries produced a 5% or greater share of a fossil fuel in 2023 (In no order, China, Australia, US, Russia, India, Indonesia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Iran), and only the US and Russia produced a 5% or greater share of each fossil fuel².

“Fossil fuels benefited from record subsidies of $13 million (£10.3m) per minute in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), despite being the primary cause of the climate crisis”³.

“The IMF analysis found the total subsidies for oil, gas and coal in 2022 were $7tn (£5.5tn). That is equivalent to 7% of global GDP and almost double what the world spends on education. Explicit subsidies, which cut the price of fuels for consumers, doubled”³.

Fossil Fuel Dependence

The share of fossil fuels in the world energy system was 81% in 2023⁴.

The decline of fossil fuels in 2020 due to Covid was replaced in 2021. Further fossil fuels were added in 2022, and roughly an equivalent amount again in 2023⁵.

2023 was the first year in which humanity’s rate of oil consumption exceeded 100 million barrels per day. The rate of consumption was 100,221 kbpd, equivalent to 664 million litres per hour continuously (175 million US gallons per hour)⁶.

The “Energy Transition” & Electrification

In 2023, the quantity of low carbon electricity generation reached a record high, due to record wind and solar generation. The quantity of fossil fuelled electricity generation also reached a record high, due to record coal and gas fired generation⁷.

The quantity of fossil fuelled electricity generation was double that of renewables⁸.

Relative to 1990 –

1. the share of electricity in global energy consumption in 2021 (latest data) increased from only 14% to 21%⁹, and
2. the share of fossil fuels in global electricity generation in 2023 (different dataset to that above) decreased only 4%, nuclear decreased 8%, and renewables increased 9%¹⁰.

CO₂ Emissions

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuels and cement in 2022 reached a record 37.2 billion tonnes, 85% of which originated from the world energy system¹¹.

CO₂ emissions in 2023 solely from fossil fuel combustion reached a record 35 billion tonnes¹²

Humankind’s CO₂ emissions are the only rapidly increasing contributor to warming, almost solely determine Earth’s long term warming commitment, and continue to grow with no peak in sight¹³.

Atmospheric CO₂

The global average annual atmospheric CO₂ concentration reached an annual record of 419.55 parts per million (ppm) in 2023, increasing at a near record rate of 2.7ppm/year^{14 15}. This level is unprecedented in 14 million years, and increasing at a rate unprecedented in the past 66 million years¹³.

Global atmospheric CO₂ concentration in March 2024 at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, was 4.7 ppm higher than it it was in March 2023, which is a record-breaking increase¹⁶.

Today’s rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide increase is 10 times faster than at any other point in the past 50,000 years¹⁷

In the mid-Pliocene, 3 to 5 million years ago, the last time that Earth’s atmosphere contained 400ppm of CO₂, global mean surface temperature was 2 to 3˚C warmer than today, the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melted, and even some of the East Antarctic ice was lost, leading to sea levels that were 10 to 20 metres higher than today¹⁸.

During the mid-Miocene (15 to 17 million years ago), atmospheric CO₂ reached 400 to 650ppm and global mean surface temperature was 3 to 4˚C warmer than today¹⁸.

Global Warming

The global mean near-surface temperature in 2023 was 1.45°C above the pre-industrial 1850–1900 average. 2023 was the warmest year in the 174-year observational record. This shattered the record of the previous warmest years, 2016 at 1.29 °C above the 1850–1900 average and 2020 at 1.27 °C¹⁹.

The ten-year average 2014–2023 global temperature is 1.2°C above the 1850–1900 average¹⁹.

A new study states global warming past 1.5˚C in 2020, is currently 1.7˚C, and 2˚C will be exceeded in the next few years^{20 21}.