Global Carbon Budget 2021

A newer version of this dataset is available. The latest version available on Openclimatedata is 2024.

Published: March 21, 2022

Citation: Friedlingstein et al., Global Carbon Budget 2021. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1917-2022

Data: Global Carbon Project. (2021). Supplemental data of Global Carbon Budget 2021 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. Global Carbon Project. https://doi.org/10.18160/gcp-2021

Changelog:
  • 2020 total anthropogenic CO₂ emissions: 10.2 ± 0.8 GtC/year (37.4 ± 2.9 GtCO₂/year)
  • in 2020 fossil emissions declined by 5.4% relative to 2019, reduced to 9.5 ± 0.5 GtC/year (34.8 ± 1.8 GtCO₂/year) with cement carbonation excluded
  • 2020 global atmospheric CO₂ concentration: 412.45 ± 0.1 ppm
  • compared to earlier estimates revised land-use change emissions show decrease in last decade

Terrestrial CO₂ sink (positive values represent a flux from the atmosphere to the land)

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 terrestrial sink (uncertainty of ±0.5 GtC/yr on average) is estimated from the average of 17 Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) that reproduce the observed mean total land uptake of the 1990s. Cite as: Friedlingstein et al (2021; see summary tab).
Cite individual estimates as:
  • 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.
  • CLASSIC Melton, J. R., Arora, V. K., Wisernig-cojoc, E., Seiler, C., Fortier, M. and Chan, E.: CLASSIC v1.0: the open-source community successor to the Canadian Land Surface Scheme ( CLASS ) and the Canadian Terrestrial Ecosystem Model ( CTEM ) – Part 1: Model framework and site-level performance, , 2825–2850, 2020.
  • CLM5.0 Lawrence, D., Fisher, R., Koven, C., Oleson, K., Swenson, S., et al.: The Community Land Model version 5: Description of new features, benchmarking, and impact of forcing uncertainty, JAMES, accepted, 2019
  • 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
  • IBIS Yuan WP, Liu D, Dong WJ, Liu SG, Zhou GS, Yu GR, Zhao TB, Feng JM, Ma ZG, Chen JQ, Chen Y, Chen SP, Han SJ, Huang JP, Li LH, Liu HZ, Liu SM, Ma MG, Wang YF, Xia JZ, Xu WF, Zhang Q, Zhao XQ, Zhao L. 2014. Multiyear precipitation reduction strongly decreases carbon uptake over northern China. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 119, 881-896.
  • 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.
  • ISBA-CTRIP Delire, C., Séférian, R., Decharme, B., Alkama, R., Calvet, J., Carrer, D., Gibelin, A., Joetzjer, E., Morel, X., Rocher, M. and Tzanos, D.: The Global Land Carbon Cycle Simulated With ISBA‐CTRIP: Improvements Over the Last Decade, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 12(9), doi:10.1029/2019MS001886, 2020.
  • 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-ES Wiltshire, A.,Burke, E., Chadburn, S., Jones, C., Cox, P., Davies-Barnard, T., Friedlingstein, P., Harper, A., Liddicoat, S., Sitch, S., Zaehle, S
  • 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.
  • OCNv2 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
  • ORCHIDEEv3 Vuichard, N., Messina, P., Luyssaert, S., Guenet, B., Zaehle, S., Ghattas, J., Ipsl, L. and Paris-saclay, U.: Accounting for carbon and nitrogen interactions in the global terrestrial ecosystem model ORCHIDEE ( trunk version , rev 4999 ): multi-scale evaluation of gross primary production, , 4751–4779, 2019.
  • 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.
  • 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, J. Land Use Sci., 8(1), 104–122, doi:10.1080/1747423x.2011.628705, 2013.
  • YIBs Yue, X. and Unger, N.: The Yale Interactive terrestrial Biosphere model version 1.0: description , evaluation and implementation into NASA GISS, , 2399–2417, doi:10.5194/gmd-8-2399-2015, 2015.

GCB

GCB

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
GtC

Unit GtC/year

YearGCB
19590.3959
19601.1565
19610.6112
19621.1553
19631.0606
19641.5512
19650.2865
19661.3471
19671.6341
19682.4041
19690.5812
19700.5118
19712.4218
19721.1347
19731.6165
19743.7706
19752.4482
19762.9341
19771.6082
19782.6547
19791.3641
19800.4541
19812.2412
19821.5400
19830.2912
19842.6700
19852.5476
19862.1612
19870.3812
19882.0718
19893.4124
19902.2259
19912.0235
19922.1235
19932.8165
19941.4847
19951.5900
19963.0618
19973.0582
19981.5700
19993.3812
20003.5165
20012.4029
20021.0206
20032.1641
20043.2576
20051.8759
20062.9394
20072.6300
20083.3582
20092.6718
20103.1071
20113.9412
20122.3912
20133.2576
20143.6041
20152.1465
20162.8000
20173.5247
20183.3465
20192.6924
20202.9247

Individual Models

CABLE-POP

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0
1
2
3
GtC

CLASSIC

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0
1
2
3
4
5
GtC

CLM5.0

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
GtC

DLEM

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
GtC

IBIS

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0
1
2
3
4
GtC

ISAM

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
GtC

ISBA-CTRIP

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
GtC

JSBACH

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0
1
2
3
4
5
GtC

JULES-ES

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0
1
2
3
4
GtC

LPJ

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0
1
2
3
4
GtC

LPJ-GUESS

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0
1
2
3
4
GtC

LPX-Bern

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
-1
0
1
2
3
GtC

OCNv2

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
1
2
3
4
5
GtC

ORCHIDEE-v3

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
GtC

SDGVM

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
-1
0
1
2
3
4
GtC

VISIT

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
1
2
3
4
5
GtC

YIBs

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
GtC

Multi-model mean

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
GtC

Model Spread (sd)

1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
GtC

Unit GtC/year

YearCABLE-POPCLASSICCLM5.0DLEMIBISISAMISBA-CTRIPJSBACHJULES-ESLPJLPJ-GUESSLPX-BernOCNv2ORCHIDEE-v3SDGVMVISITYIBsMulti-model meanModel Spread (sd)
1959−0.4700−0.44001.10000.82000.41001.35000.98000.38000.2600−0.4700−0.92000.23001.03000.72000.10001.36000.29000.39590.6819
19601.75001.43001.51000.64001.39001.40000.89002.11001.04000.31000.98000.83001.14001.14000.47001.68000.95001.15650.4723
19611.04000.84000.52000.40000.74000.95000.57001.78000.2400−0.48000.6500−0.08001.36000.7700−0.66001.17000.58000.61120.6180
19621.61001.05001.26000.51000.82001.44001.00002.46001.84000.14001.3900−0.10001.76001.4800−0.30002.02001.26001.15530.7518
19631.63001.71000.95000.86001.04001.22000.45001.86001.8300−0.38000.22000.18001.72001.00000.93002.05000.76001.06060.6851
19642.39001.57002.18001.00001.58001.79001.33002.14002.42000.85002.32001.11001.81001.23000.30001.31001.04001.55120.6095
19651.4000−0.51001.10000.7900−0.29001.4800−0.18000.70001.3700−0.6000−0.2200−1.11000.72000.8300−1.80000.99000.20000.28650.9500
19661.45002.63001.58000.96001.51001.50001.18002.50000.90000.25001.42000.94001.48001.21001.93001.09000.37001.34710.6245
19671.53001.38001.87001.33001.73001.44000.90002.24002.84001.11001.73001.19002.68001.17001.78001.43001.43001.63410.5318
19682.17005.37002.20001.73002.60002.24001.04002.04002.86002.49003.64002.11002.75001.54002.32002.51001.26002.40410.9820
19690.6700−0.05001.2700−0.22000.66000.58000.32001.67000.70000.32000.65000.41000.68000.84000.55000.51000.32000.58120.4366
19701.1200−0.22001.37000.90000.46000.85000.66001.57000.7900−0.90000.05000.08000.72000.7800−0.93000.68000.72000.51180.6976
19712.30002.95002.11002.32002.64002.36001.89002.04004.27002.17003.38002.03003.03001.88001.71002.60001.49002.42180.6848
19720.33002.01001.01001.09001.43000.92000.1100−0.59002.11001.50002.39001.42001.72000.73000.87001.74000.50001.13470.7777
19731.38002.79002.20001.75001.26001.24001.39001.86000.98000.79003.40000.48002.28001.41001.97000.52001.78001.61650.7733
19743.50005.20002.95002.99004.98003.52002.72004.61004.79003.73004.90003.53004.30002.96003.36004.02002.04003.77060.9107
19751.70003.35002.49001.58002.92002.67001.75002.26003.38002.12003.38002.19003.29001.59001.90003.13001.92002.44820.6766
19762.31003.39003.45002.19002.96002.81002.03001.84004.96004.46003.45002.35003.84001.71002.59003.99001.55002.93410.9986
19771.77003.66002.15000.60001.98001.42000.65001.25002.24001.75000.50001.73002.53000.80000.91002.12001.28001.60820.8211
19783.38003.83002.44001.37002.83002.77001.89003.53003.04002.61003.32001.88002.81002.29003.08002.58001.48002.65470.7034
19791.89000.63002.21001.07001.28001.66000.87002.94001.65001.23000.56000.84001.97001.10000.57001.81000.91001.36410.6583
19801.8100−0.33001.54000.3400−0.41001.55000.56001.76001.1400−0.7900−0.9200−1.10001.16000.8100−1.19000.83000.96000.45411.0415
19811.81003.21002.47002.65002.06002.45001.89003.24002.70001.07001.62000.94003.54002.23002.11002.17001.94002.24120.7072
19821.34001.37002.10001.06001.28002.17001.09000.95003.37001.90001.91000.88002.09001.7200−0.28001.76001.47001.54000.7657
19830.6000−0.64001.41000.4000−0.91001.00000.23001.91000.6600−0.6800−0.6600−1.44001.34000.5600−0.36000.10001.43000.29120.9587
19842.45003.83002.71002.28003.14002.74002.49002.94002.38002.41003.40002.17003.20003.08000.95003.34001.88002.67000.6752
19852.94002.85002.56002.18002.60002.72001.84004.09002.69002.34003.05001.56003.31002.48001.98002.34001.78002.54760.6187
19861.85002.55003.19001.70001.11002.63001.61002.73003.50002.13002.53000.09003.15001.70001.99002.40001.88002.16120.8309
19870.8300−0.95001.47000.6700−0.26001.0900−0.04001.00000.04000.3000−0.6400−0.71001.53000.8000−0.53000.81001.07000.38120.7928
19882.16002.63002.35002.58001.72002.49002.13003.95002.35000.23000.86000.91003.07002.16002.61001.25001.77002.07180.8956
19892.88005.32003.14003.48003.83003.29003.01003.17003.76003.26003.89002.99004.12002.72002.96003.67002.52003.41240.6619
19901.72004.24003.34001.18002.61001.99001.38002.29001.80002.44002.65002.08002.77001.43001.63002.18002.11002.22590.7624
19912.23001.33003.33001.40001.57002.72001.50003.22003.45001.62000.61000.54003.12002.23001.38002.09002.06002.02350.9041
19921.95001.46002.99002.59001.33002.86001.68001.48003.35003.25003.31000.66002.86001.60001.54001.10002.09002.12350.8570
19932.74003.15003.53002.17002.84002.81002.09002.51002.85003.74004.00002.01003.90002.64001.96002.43002.51002.81650.6497
19941.23000.35002.21001.57001.26002.65001.76001.60002.15000.9500−0.41000.32002.53001.48001.00002.12002.47001.48470.8573
19951.62000.57002.59001.46001.14002.34001.32001.86001.20001.07001.18000.37002.56001.79002.08001.46002.42001.59000.6602
19963.18004.20002.79001.91003.98002.91002.40002.57002.18003.02004.94003.04003.27003.27002.95003.30002.14003.06180.7733
19972.30005.33003.01002.35003.69002.71001.91003.67002.40003.83003.40003.08003.64001.66004.41003.01001.59003.05820.9962
19981.30003.09002.46000.74001.84001.51001.76003.7800−0.74000.56000.50001.19001.88001.26002.20001.80001.56001.57001.0353
19992.81004.05003.76002.72003.94003.77003.12004.69003.00003.43002.85002.68004.07002.95002.75004.16002.73003.38120.6427
20003.74005.47003.33002.68004.50003.90002.70004.38003.14003.83002.95003.24004.33002.72002.18004.22002.47003.51650.8817
20012.30003.69003.06001.78002.22002.76002.22002.60002.47002.18001.59001.08003.31001.63002.32003.28002.36002.40290.6793
20021.40001.15002.42000.98000.59001.87001.31001.18001.05000.6100−0.3600−0.41001.91001.1000−0.10001.06001.59001.02060.7761
20032.25001.44002.90002.43001.46002.47002.53003.59001.59001.59001.58000.58003.24001.96002.97002.24001.97002.16410.7625
20043.32004.07003.35002.48003.46003.37002.33003.89002.97003.74004.53002.41004.25002.41002.82004.01001.97003.25760.7650
20052.22001.72003.05002.02001.28002.11001.81002.25002.06001.84001.15000.41002.76001.85001.58001.83001.95001.87590.5961
20062.62002.95003.13002.56003.18002.94003.02003.00003.33002.77002.61002.31003.86002.41004.00003.16002.12002.93940.5006
20072.80003.11003.41002.40002.27003.07002.09003.77002.96002.07002.22000.90003.59002.18001.69003.59002.59002.63000.7644
20083.37004.02002.95002.64003.59003.92002.73004.33003.70003.31004.23002.34004.48002.83001.93004.01002.71003.35820.7569
20093.31001.94002.96002.36002.53002.66002.15003.75002.67003.60002.44001.90003.71001.76002.18003.27002.23002.67180.6516
20103.33003.87004.01002.13003.16002.59002.59005.01001.30003.11003.71001.99003.73002.56004.15003.61001.97003.10710.9604
20113.85004.57004.47003.13004.21004.08003.36004.72004.21004.59004.37002.75005.00003.11002.64005.22002.72003.94120.8331
20122.23001.31003.41002.20002.28003.23002.67002.68002.79002.19000.88001.22003.55001.81002.01003.53002.66002.39120.7983
20133.76004.24003.41002.45003.53003.12003.08004.70002.37003.77003.52002.62003.72002.39002.52003.46002.72003.25760.6830
20143.82004.89004.04002.69003.87003.82003.32003.37002.99004.68004.17002.78004.69002.16003.22004.34002.42003.60410.8242
20152.21001.79003.29001.71001.25002.88001.82001.83002.10002.84000.90000.34003.75001.54002.78003.00002.46002.14650.8890
20162.82004.03003.60002.60002.75002.03002.98003.58000.87002.92002.15001.78004.13002.21003.99002.06003.10002.80000.8945
20172.88005.58003.76002.87003.91003.39003.29003.80002.50003.61003.68002.41004.29003.22003.62004.18002.93003.52470.7589
20182.21002.79003.43003.13003.55003.66003.27004.58002.86003.69003.65002.42004.30002.59003.87004.10002.79003.34650.6736
20192.13001.67004.13002.01002.06002.98002.25004.47002.35003.24003.13001.07004.03001.81002.62003.11002.71002.69240.9260
20203.15003.61004.57002.26003.68003.96002.72004.24002.71002.18002.29000.84004.08002.01001.96002.89002.57002.92470.9894