Average annual fossil and industrial CO2 emissions per person worldwide, calculated by dividing global production-based CO2 emissions by world population. A core welfare-relevant climate pressure indicator: higher per-capita emissions drive accumulated atmospheric CO2 and warming.
How to read it
Readings above the normal line are worse than normal, so they plot downward here; readings below it are better.
This indicator’s slice of Factrail’s verified causal web — the people, facts, drivers and welfare indicators it connects to. Select any node to trace a path.
By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed
Measured value over time. Its norm (2.3 tonnes CO2 per person per year) is far off this scale, marked at the bottom edge, so the series stays worse than normal throughout — the deviation badge shows the gap.
Each driver linked to this indicator, strongest pull first, on the same timeline above. Markers are the facts that moved that driver. These are modelled influences — treat them as correlational unless a documented causal edge is shown.
A widening production gap keeps planned coal, oil, and gas above a 1.5 pathway, raising residual CO2 per capita. Quote Production Gap percentages on the edge; do not invent a unique GtCO2.
Fossil fuel phaseout struggle: lowers welfare, impact strength 100%, 0 linked facts on the timeline.A higher renewable TFEC share displaces fossil use and can lower CO2 per capita. Capacity is not TFEC. Quote World Bank/IRENA on the edge; do not invent GtCO2.
Pace of Climate Transition: raises welfare, impact strength 70%, 0 linked facts on the timeline.FAOSTAT names extra-Amazon conversion (including DRC) among large forest-conversion emitters. Quote FAO on the edge; do not invent GtCO2. Amazon PRODES stays on amazon-deforestation.
Tropical forest / Congo Basin conservation: lowers welfare, impact strength 60%, 0 linked facts on the timeline.Amazon clear-cut and subsequent fire are a LULUCF carbon channel. The live per-capita series is fossil-heavy; quote INPE km2 on the edge and do not invent a unique GtCO2.
Amazon deforestation pressure: lowers welfare, impact strength 60%, 0 linked facts on the timeline.Stronger binding decarbonization policy pushes per-capita CO2 emissions downward over time; effect is real but gradual and partly offset by economic growth, hence a multi-year lag and moderate strength.
Decarbonization and climate-mitigation policy: raises welfare, impact strength 60%, 0 linked facts on the timeline.New renewable generation displaces fossil-fuel electricity, lowering per-capita CO2 emissions — one of the most direct decarbonization channels.
Renewable-Energy Deployment: raises welfare, impact strength 45%, 0 linked facts on the timeline.