Summary of Latest Data

Updated August 2023.

Unless specified, the boxes below refer to year 2022.
Fossil Fuel Production

Coal production reached a record high, oil production was 99% of the record level set in 2019, and gas production was 99.8% of the record level set in 20211.

Only nine countries produced a 5% or greater share of a fossil fuel in 2022: China, India, Indonesia, the US, Australia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Iran1.

Fossil fuels benefited from record subsidies of $13 million (£10.3m) a minute in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund, despite being the primary cause of the climate crisis2.

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.

Decarbonisation

Between year 1965 and 2000, nuclear and hydro power decarbonised the world energy system3 4.

Over the subsequent 16 years from 2001 to 2016, humanity made no further progress to decarbonise the world energy system4.

Since 2020 decarbonisation has stalled4.

Quantity of Supplied Energy

The supply of energy reached a record high, delivered by record high supplies of energy from fossil fuels and low-carbon fuels5.

Fossil fuels continued to be added to the world energy system6.

Fossil Fuel shares

82% of the world’s energy supply was fossil fuelled7.

The share of fossil fuels in global energy consumption (i.e. final energy) in 2020 was only 2.6% less than that in 19908. This was despite the passing of 30 years and 25 UN climate conferences.

oil

Humanity consumed oil at a rate equivalent to 622 million litres per hour continuously (157 million US gallons per hour). This is an increase of 27 million litres per hour over the rate in 2021 of 595 million litres per hour9.

electricity

61% of electricity generation was fossil fuelled10.

Coal and gas fired electricity generation both reached record highs in 2021, and again in 202211.

The share of electricity generation by low-carbon fuels in 2022 was roughly equivalent to the peak in 199512.

27 years after the UNFCCC’s COP1, the net change of electricity generation was that fossil fuels and low carbon fuels both lost share to the categories ‘Geothermal, Biomass and Other Renewables’ and ‘Other’12.

CO₂ emissions

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuels and cement in 2021 reached a record 36.85 billion tonnes, 86% of which originated from the world energy system13.

Humankind’s CO₂ emissions account for 80% of global warming since 1750, are the only rapidly increasing contributor, continue to grow with no peak in sight, at a rate unprecedented in the past 66 million years, and almost solely determine Earth’s long term warming commitment14.

global warming

Relative to the 1850–1900 pre-industrial baseline, global warming in 2022 was estimated to be about 1.15°C, and the ten year average for the period 2013–2022 was estimated to be 1.14°C15.

atmospheric CO₂

The global average annual atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration reached a record 417.1ppm, increasing at a near record rate of 2.1ppm/year16.

The most rapid natural change of CO₂ known with high confidence, ranged between 10–15ppm over 100–200 years (16,000, 15,000 and 12,000 years ago). This is equivalent to an average change of at most 0.15ppm/year, meaning that the increases of CO₂ in 2021 and 2022 were 14–16 times as rapid17.

In the mid-Pliocene, 3–5 million years ago, the last time that Earth’s atmosphere contained 400ppm of CO₂, global mean surface temperature was 2–3˚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 10–20 metres higher than today. During the mid-Miocene (15–17 million years ago), atmospheric CO₂ reached 400–650ppm and global mean surface temperature was 3–4˚C warmer than today17.

Footnotes
  1. https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-fossil-fuel-production-and-primary-energy/(↩)(↩)
  2. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/24/fossil-fuel-subsidies-imf-report-climate-crisis-oil-gas-coal(↩)
  3. Chart 13 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-fossil-fuel-production-and-primary-energy/(↩)
  4. Chart 1 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/carbon-intensity/(↩)(↩)(↩)
  5. Chart 12 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-fossil-fuel-production-and-primary-energy/(↩)
  6. Chart 14 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-fossil-fuel-production-and-primary-energy/(↩)
  7. Chart 7b of https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-fossil-fuel-production-and-primary-energy/(↩)
  8. Chart 2 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-final-energy/(↩)
  9. https://www.energyinst.org/statistical-review/about, sheet titled ‘Oil Consumption – Barrels’, value for ‘World’ in 2021 = 83,848 thousand barrels per day. Sheet titled ‘Approximate conversion factors’ states 1 barrel = 0.159 kilolitres = 159 litres. 93,848kpbd*1,000litres per barrel = 93,848,000 barrels per day. 93,848,000*159 = 14,921,832,000 litres per day. 14,921,832,000/24 = 621,743,000 litres per hour, which rounds to 622 million litres per hour.(↩)
  10. Chart 1 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-electricity-generation/(↩)
  11. Chart 6 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-electricity-generation/(↩)
  12. Chart 4 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/world-electricity-generation/(↩)(↩)
  13. Charts 5 and 9 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/ghg-emissions/(↩)
  14. https://www.worldenergydata.org/ghg-emissions/(↩)
  15. https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/climate/wmo-statement-state-of-global-climate(↩)
  16. Chart 6 of https://www.worldenergydata.org/ghg-emissions/ and https://www.worldenergydata.org/greenhouse-gas-emissions-rose-at-alarming-rate-last-year-us-data-shows/(↩)
  17. https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=4453(↩)(↩)