Global Carbon Budget 2018

A newer version of this dataset is available. The latest version available on Openclimatedata is 2025.

Published: December 5, 2018

Citation: Le Quéré et al., Global Carbon Budget 2018. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-2141-2018

Data: Global Carbon Project. (2018). Supplemental data of Global Carbon Budget 2018 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. Global Carbon Project. https://doi.org/10.18160/gcp-2018

Changelog:
  • 2017 growth in fossil CO₂ emissions was about 1.6%, an increase to 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC/year
  • 2017 global atmospheric CO₂ concentration: 405.0 ± 0.1 ppm

Land-use change emissions

All values in billion tonnes of carbon per year (GtC/yr), for the globe. For values in billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year (GtCO2/yr), multiply the numbers below by 3.664. 1 billion tonnes C = 1 petagram of carbon (10^15 gC) = 1 gigatonne C = 3.664 billion tonnes of CO2
Methods: The GCB estimate is the average of the two bookkeeping models (uncertainty of ±0.7 GtC/yr). Individual results from dynamic global vegetation models are also provided. data below represents the net flux of land-use change, based on the net balance between deforestation and forest regrowth along with other land-use changes 2016 values for H&N (in red) are preliminary and are based on fire counts, and are propagated to the GCB estimate
Cite individual estimates as:
  • H&N Houghton, R. A. and Nassikas, A. A.: Global and regional fluxes of carbon from land use and land cover change 1850-2015, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 31, 456-472, 2017.
  • BLUE Hansis, E., Davis, S. J., and Pongratz, J.: Relevance of methodological choices for accounting of land use change carbon fluxes, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 29, 1230-1246, 2015.
  • CABLE-POP Haverd, V., Smith, B., Nieradzik, L., Briggs, P. R., Woodgate, W., Trudinger, C. M., Canadell, J. G., and Cuntz, M.: A new version of the CABLE land surface model (Subversion revision r4601) incorporating land use and land cover change, woody vegetation demography, and a novel optimisation-based approach to plant coordination of photosynthesis, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 2995-3026, 2018.
  • CLASS-CTEM Melton, J. R. and Arora, V. K.: Competition between plant functional types in the Canadian Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (CTEM) v. 2.0, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 323-361, 2016.
  • CLM5.0 Oleson, K., Lawrence, D., Bonan, G., Drewniak, B., Huang, M., Koven, C., Levis, S., Li, F., Riley, W., Subin, Z., Swenson, S., Thornton, P., Bozbiyik, A., Fisher, R., Heald, C., Kluzek, E., Lamarque, J., Lawrence, P., Leung, L., Lipscomb, W., Muszala, S., Ricciuto, D., Sacks, W., Tang, J., and Yang, Z.: Technical Description of version 4.5 of the Community Land Model (CLM), NCAR, 2013.
  • DLEM Tian, H., G. Chen, C. Lu, X. Xu, D. J. Hayes, W. Ren, S. Pan, D.N. Huntzinger, S.C. Wofsy: North American terrestrial CO2 uptake largely offset by CH4 and N2O emissions: Toward a full accounting of the greenhouse gas budget, Climatic Change, 129:423-426, 2015
  • ISAM Meiyappan, P., Jain, A. K., and House, J. I.: Increased influence of nitrogen limitation on CO2 emissions from future land use and land use change, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 29, 1524-1548, 2015.
  • JSBACH Mauritsen, T., Bader, J., Becker, T., Behrens, J., Bittner, M., Brokopf, R., Brovkin, V., Claussen, M., Crueger, T., Esch, M., Fast, I., Fiedler, S., Popke, D., Gayler, V., Giorgetta, M., Goll, D., Haak, H., Hagemann, S., Hedemann, C., Hohenegger, C., Ilyina, T., Jahns, T., Jimenez Cuesta de la Otero, D., Jungclaus, J., Kleinen, T., Kloster, S., Kracher, D., Kinne, S., Kleberg, D., Lasslop, G., Kornblueh, L., Marotzke, J., Matei, D., Meraner, K., Mikolajewicz, U., Modali, K., Möbis, B., Müller, W., Nabel, J.E.M.S., Nam, C., Notz, D., Nyawira, S., Paulsen, H., Peters, K., Pincus, R., Pohlmann, H., Pongratz, J., Popp, M., Raddatz, T., Rast, S., Redler, R., Reick, C., Rohrschneider, T., Schemann, V., Schmidt, H., Schnur, R., Schulzweida, U., Six, K., Stein, L., Stemmler, I., Stevens, B., von Storch, J., Tian, F., Voigt, A., de Vrese, P., Wieners, K.-H., Wilkenskjeld, S., Roeckner, E. & Winkler, A. (in review). Developments in the MPI-M Earth System Model version 1.2 (MPI-ESM1.2) and its response to increasing CO2.
  • JULES Clarke, D. B., Mercado, L. M., Sitch, S., Jones, C. D., Gedney, N., Best, M. J., Pryor, M., Rooney, G. G., Essery, R. L. H., Blyth, E., Boucher, O., Cox, P. M., and Harding, R. J.: The Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES), model description - Part 2: Carbon fluxes and vegetation dynamics. , Geoscientific Model Development, 4, 701-772, 2011
  • LPJ-GUESS Smith, B., Warlind, D., Arneth, A., Hickler, T., Leadley, P., Siltberg, J., and Zaehle, S.: Implications of incorporating N cycling and N limitations on primary production in an individual-based dynamic vegetation model, Biogeosciences, 11, 2027-2054, 2014.
  • LPJ Poulter, B., Frank, D. C., Hodson, E. L., and Zimmermann, N. E.: Impacts of land cover and climate data selection on understanding terrestrial carbon dynamics and the CO2 airborne fraction, Biogeosciences, 8, 2027-2036, 2011.
  • LPX-Bern Lienert, S. and Joos, F.: A Bayesian ensemble data assimilation to constrain model parameters and land-use carbon emissions, Biogeosciences, 15, 2909-2930, 2018.
  • OCN Zaehle, S. and Friend, A. D.: Carbon and nitrogen cycle dynamics in the O-CN land surface model: 1. Model description, site-scale evaluation, and sensitivity to parameter estimates, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 24, GB1005, 2010
  • ORCHIDEE-CNP Goll, D. S., Vuichard, N., Maignan, F., Jornet-Puig, A., Sardans, J., Violette, A., Peng, S. S., Sun, Y., Kvakic, M., Guimberteau, M., Guenet, B., Zaehle, S., Penuelas, J., Janssens, I., and Ciais, P.: A representation of the phosphorus cycle for ORCHIDEE (revision 4520), Geoscientific Model Development, 10, 3745-3770, 2017.
  • ORCHIDEE-Trunk Krinner, G., Viovy, N., de Noblet, N., Ogée, J., Friedlingstein, P., Ciais, P., Sitch, S., Polcher, J., and Prentice, I. C.: A dynamic global vegetation model for studies of the coupled atmosphere-biosphere system, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 19, 1-33, 2005.
  • SDGVM Walker, A. P., Quaife, T., van Bodegom, P. M., De Kauwe, M. G., Keenan, T. F., Joiner, J., Lomas, M. R., MacBean, N., Xu, C. G., Yang, X. J., and Woodward, F. I.: The impact of alternative trait-scaling hypotheses for the maximum photosynthetic carboxylation rate (V-cmax) on global gross primary production, New Phytologist, 215, 1370-1386, 2017.
  • SURFEX Joetzjer, E., Delire, C., Douville, H., Ciais, P., Decharme, B., Carrer, D., Verbeeck, H., De Weirdt, M., and Bonal, D.: Improving the ISBACC land surface model simulation of water and carbon fluxes and stocks over the Amazon forest, Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 1709-1727, 2015.
  • VISIT Kato, E., Kinoshita, T., Ito, A., Kawamiya, M., and Yamagata, Y.: Evaluation of spatially explicit emission scenario of land-use change and biomass burning using a process-based biogeochemical model, Journal of Land Use Science, 8, 104-122, 2013.

GCB

GCB

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
GtC

Unit GtC/year

YearGCB
19591.8106
19601.6726
19611.6076
19621.5668
19631.5138
19641.4639
19651.4177
19661.3760
19671.3548
19681.3537
19691.3627
19701.3223
19711.2846
19721.2473
19731.2193
19741.1793
19751.1479
19761.1305
19771.1062
19781.0692
19791.0425
19801.0858
19811.0957
19821.1076
19831.1496
19841.1860
19851.2039
19861.2417
19871.2791
19881.2966
19891.3234
19901.3217
19911.3328
19921.3480
19931.3489
19941.3446
19951.3309
19961.3056
19971.7801
19981.2275
19991.2016
20001.3158
20011.1778
20021.3382
20031.3870
20041.3361
20051.2140
20061.2540
20071.0725
20081.1284
20091.5735
20101.4189
20111.3553
20121.5991
20131.5421
20141.6015
20151.6232
20161.3001
20171.3884

Bookkeeping methods

BLUE

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
2.4
2.6
GtC

H&N

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
GtC

Unit GtC/year

YearBLUEH&N
19592.62320.9980
19602.32141.0238
19612.16061.0546
19622.07121.0623
19632.00911.0185
19641.96270.9651
19651.92780.9076
19661.90340.8487
19671.87860.8310
19681.86180.8456
19691.84130.8841
19701.73510.9094
19711.67270.8965
19721.63420.8605
19731.59560.8431
19741.55660.8019
19751.51420.7815
19761.49390.7671
19771.46920.7432
19781.44880.6897
19791.42840.6566
19801.54750.6241
19811.58650.6050
19821.62030.5948
19831.64870.6505
19841.67820.6938
19851.69270.7151
19861.72450.7589
19871.75540.8028
19881.78580.8074
19891.80550.8413
19901.59661.0467
19911.50541.1602
19921.42881.2672
19931.37211.3257
19941.32121.3679
19951.27921.3826
19961.23231.3789
19971.68451.8756
19981.12241.3326
19991.09761.3055
20001.39341.2382
20011.12631.2294
20021.37061.3057
20031.55161.2225
20041.41731.2550
20051.19171.2362
20061.17801.3300
20071.06211.0829
20081.16321.0937
20091.96551.1814
20101.72221.1157
20111.63491.0758
20122.13671.0616
20132.08351.0007
20142.14351.0595
20152.10091.1455
20161.55441.0459
20171.80120.9756

Individual Models

CABLE-POP

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
3
3.2
3.4
3.6
GtC

CLASS-CTEM

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1
1.5
2
2.5
GtC

CLM5.0

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1.5
2
2.5
3
GtC

DLEM

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
GtC

ISAM

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
2.4
GtC

JSBACH

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
2.4
2.6
GtC

JULES

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
GtC

LPJ

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
GtC

LPJ-GUESS

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
GtC

LPX-Bern

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
GtC

OCN

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
2.4
GtC

ORCHIDEE-CNP

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
GtC

ORCHIDEE-Trunk

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
GtC

SDGVM

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0
1
2
3
4
GtC

SURFEX

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
0
0.5
1
1.5
GtC

VISIT

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2.4
2.6
2.8
3
3.2
GtC

MMM (multi-model mean)

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
GtC

Unit GtC/year

YearCABLE-POPCLASS-CTEMCLM5.0DLEMISAMJSBACHJULESLPJLPJ-GUESSLPX-BernOCNORCHIDEE-CNPORCHIDEE-TrunkSDGVMSURFEXVISITMMM (multi-model mean)
19593.47580.97172.05912.35631.86711.20201.18451.48201.99061.08262.33771.49851.13872.33090.86832.79001.7897
19603.19291.00911.79162.57002.00511.15681.06491.18802.09451.16392.42411.33931.13072.91030.87372.39801.7696
19613.14931.10421.94541.39921.36231.10860.87081.13491.59130.79281.87301.00820.98522.17360.62652.35401.4674
19623.27210.97161.96631.66251.33861.24591.11211.15061.56780.78462.05360.98311.00201.71430.14732.54801.4700
19633.38290.79631.99261.48181.11491.34331.35500.97921.03670.28201.78920.84981.01512.6511−0.00732.34701.4006
19643.09450.76491.90991.73601.34281.27141.27801.09861.56340.69061.81151.12060.80081.54210.14302.30601.4046
19653.18051.07771.46451.48481.58051.43231.45140.83491.59590.76741.81191.19630.99950.58300.12772.43201.3763
19662.86441.14531.67981.43811.29031.37041.24031.10231.31540.65571.64481.09011.13342.08610.19492.39101.4151
19673.57510.69291.73771.55641.30591.26751.10821.13361.71190.93281.70120.86761.00812.13780.05632.46401.4536
19683.23580.93531.79641.63361.30201.38651.00521.08992.04800.82231.66821.19610.95072.7597−0.00822.34101.5101
19692.72021.13061.60181.61191.18681.36101.19341.16741.89030.70141.69580.87571.00741.41130.09552.35201.3752
19703.00621.03771.48461.44581.42651.34081.03721.16901.58430.76331.70851.07750.99191.12850.20852.44201.3658
19713.19771.07281.29121.47391.00391.23651.12111.29782.06900.95961.47431.28930.99732.5454−0.08412.46501.4632
19723.02411.25631.21751.23801.10101.23601.11671.15631.80800.82581.56090.96970.88731.2955−0.27062.28001.2939
19732.47141.19551.37811.35751.13451.23550.81101.12681.85340.67371.27080.86260.81503.02290.14762.39401.3594
19743.44191.38651.47091.57590.73001.34421.00451.35612.47590.94361.69591.42851.14522.9768−0.11002.38901.5784
19753.65191.00961.39841.15530.93791.31811.09351.19561.16940.50622.07151.23971.02432.11900.08432.42501.4000
19763.09521.00821.35221.80031.03221.10511.27701.36491.32030.74811.84031.25020.95222.3025−0.42772.57901.4125
19772.92551.14851.51801.16521.28101.23150.75521.11021.06010.23831.50030.75570.95421.2178−0.16502.46101.1974
19782.90351.46911.42621.54911.17100.87080.85711.28392.15850.95041.66151.18430.99462.84330.04002.50101.4915
19793.01501.05991.25131.42161.26981.73971.38640.94051.48920.76021.77061.02941.11271.0585−0.05842.54201.3618
19803.10450.92711.42191.24491.28961.32731.15510.98231.04990.73901.72561.10651.05720.81920.02102.80401.2984
19812.86471.37531.44951.67661.12891.56160.68291.19151.63310.70081.56441.25041.00052.35880.09912.59701.4459
19823.10711.09461.48231.75501.43691.67911.16471.25781.69750.77541.89200.99161.01760.77830.12982.73201.4370
19832.46130.92021.64481.43461.38771.88731.57691.13530.64940.91691.45851.22940.97411.93210.27002.76801.4154
19843.32531.34181.40231.97061.08871.65360.99651.27981.93520.95041.81361.05231.00401.64330.14772.76601.5232
19852.65301.21601.56632.01481.32551.59840.82611.21412.23060.96051.76051.20081.10771.69170.24542.83901.5281
19862.97921.27541.88151.76381.27271.75081.09071.24701.78180.91541.77531.10991.03091.48740.30422.69401.5225
19872.58421.18271.69021.63071.35861.75571.14481.07450.75730.76791.66980.70161.13321.28160.19112.59201.3448
19883.09840.72731.80381.78371.22921.77361.18411.04840.65100.64971.61111.11041.24472.17340.10502.89301.4429
19893.11951.25741.60061.89841.38332.15881.01691.11232.02360.61111.98631.68061.19742.50070.07132.84801.6542
19902.43061.71961.69751.74381.57651.70571.25581.17332.10770.79961.82421.31811.08971.57430.47692.54101.5646
19913.01391.13611.63811.32291.19651.38290.96601.08601.29810.64941.79470.77680.94031.15900.37102.54601.3299
19922.75251.36081.34091.28691.32671.50311.62971.03351.37710.72481.57351.13550.83660.9974−0.04642.57701.3381
19932.18951.37581.49401.46241.11191.31980.75951.13652.21710.83501.40510.84490.68971.56090.09962.46901.3107
19942.57560.91871.71850.98161.16991.14440.71210.95591.03350.28631.81320.77890.94670.56500.11632.50501.1389
19952.33921.11141.45701.05731.13201.38680.96130.78031.33060.39841.41040.83750.95401.86320.16102.44101.2263
19962.80731.31951.25891.55441.10931.30230.77330.93582.43450.80911.49350.91800.80931.77020.03922.52601.3663
19972.39271.40371.40381.25011.18311.50160.92920.94951.68900.85341.51600.80230.84912.34360.20712.43601.3569
19982.34151.36711.51790.69601.17171.77420.51370.85370.83810.29071.59750.31240.69201.81740.49632.30801.1617
19992.75751.11781.57591.42931.02201.56661.27430.95211.24300.43231.80350.94630.89381.58950.51942.59101.3571
20002.63031.25781.47351.51401.14811.55460.93061.05391.72410.54041.69690.86080.82312.01280.00402.69501.3700
20012.68251.42661.54081.83041.69521.38510.89720.80231.49300.31601.98560.77910.70441.52000.74522.32601.3831
20022.19071.21441.20860.83841.41501.53561.49340.76570.73360.22571.44640.44570.7298−0.73810.49102.41901.0259
20032.15821.29511.59632.03341.78401.89560.99531.10011.35270.91051.56590.54170.96281.75370.26942.84801.4414
20042.51571.79091.98652.62601.73951.59860.69061.27192.79851.03491.67701.28131.21992.60310.73072.58501.7594
20052.00511.52301.84322.20722.47371.37750.83130.88441.48810.50081.67660.06580.74331.81410.85292.44101.4205
20062.78471.11791.27371.35831.51841.41010.71460.94051.15220.41801.59900.68770.76671.91580.42692.61101.2935
20072.13391.28991.18121.26201.73621.60741.16140.90181.18750.22651.42220.68750.84561.09740.68172.60301.2516
20082.48501.18431.46901.75501.58551.94190.80981.17392.01970.90071.68440.78140.80211.33140.50582.72601.4472
20092.27961.57581.24981.71561.77211.93311.15071.88621.91670.58521.68080.80830.74700.88090.46853.39401.5028
20102.82932.13223.19254.00821.61592.33830.55741.59682.78001.44832.21031.64901.54044.78501.72282.96302.3356
20112.77741.60061.52172.32781.75581.95040.81241.58972.65960.72201.87550.81960.97181.97621.66372.84501.7418
20123.18061.45851.68501.64231.74162.01681.07041.48910.42300.37412.00701.06131.05341.09280.81443.05001.5100
20132.69421.92632.43654.27691.79422.25641.11221.81682.88071.18772.32421.68581.57662.18531.40663.08202.1651
20142.77982.33762.29603.26491.98402.44011.12851.74892.86341.46051.99231.30411.50582.32951.69703.05302.1366
20152.69001.70662.25612.23531.76392.60851.17901.63911.64971.04192.03000.73911.14901.78651.50592.61901.7875
20162.28872.29622.34722.72661.62522.42600.74191.36051.99821.02981.83151.35131.36463.31221.68333.10301.9679
20172.88642.62321.63342.43501.55512.11020.97341.77542.82421.39832.30720.87681.19021.72481.90983.23101.9659