Carbon Monitor: a near-real-time daily dataset of global CO2 emission from fossil fuel and cement production

TL;DR

The paper introduces Carbon Monitor, a near-real-time daily dataset of global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and cement, enabling detailed analysis of emission dynamics and policy impacts.

Contribution

It presents a novel, high-resolution daily CO2 emission dataset with diverse data sources and near-global coverage, updated frequently for real-time monitoring.

Findings

Detected a 7.8% global CO2 emission decline in early 2020

Captured emission fluctuations related to COVID-19 lockdowns

Enabled analysis of daily, weekly, and seasonal emission patterns

Abstract

We constructed a near-real-time daily CO2 emission dataset, namely the Carbon Monitor, to monitor the variations of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production since January 1st 2019 at national level with near-global coverage on a daily basis, with the potential to be frequently updated. Daily CO2 emissions are estimated from a diverse range of activity data, including: hourly to daily electrical power generation data of 29 countries, monthly production data and production indices of industry processes of 62 countries/regions, daily mobility data and mobility indices of road transportation of 416 cities worldwide. Individual flight location data and monthly data were utilised for aviation and maritime transportation sectors estimates. In addition, monthly fuel consumption data that corrected for daily air temperature of 206 countries were used for estimating the emissions from commercial and residential buildings. This Carbon Monitor dataset manifests the dynamic nature of CO2 emissions through daily, weekly and seasonal variations as influenced by workdays and holidays, as well as the unfolding impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Carbon Monitor near-real-time CO2 emission dataset shows a 7.8% decline of CO2 emission globally from Jan 1st to Apr 30th in 2020 when compared with the same period in 2019, and detects a re-growth of CO2 emissions by late April which are mainly attributed to the recovery of economy activities in China and partial easing of lockdowns in other countries. Further, this daily updated CO2 emission dataset could offer a range of opportunities for related scientific research and policy making.