Financial Times FT.com

Copenhagen climate conference

Interactive graphic: carbon emissions past and projected

By Valentina Romei, Rob Minto and Steven Bernard

Published: November 2 2009 18:12 | Last updated: November 10 2009 18:07

As the Copenhagen summit approaches, which countries and continents have been the largest emitters of CO2, and which will be in the future?

See also:

In depth: Copenhagen summit
Copenhagen calling
Greenland is warming up

Carbon emissions

Land use and CO2 - explanation

Fluxes of carbon related to land use change includes:

  • Clearing of natural ecosystems for permanent croplands (cultivation)
  • Clearing of natural ecosystems for permanent pastures (no cultivation)
  • Abandonment of croplands and pastures with subsequent recovery of carbon stocks to those of the original ecosystem
  • Shifting cultivation (swidden agriculture – repeated clearing, abandonment, and re-clearing of forests in many tropical regions)
  • Wood harvest (industrial wood as well as fuel wood). These estimates include the emissions of carbon from wood products (burned, stored in long term pools, decayed over time).

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