South Africa - CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption (kt)

The value for CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption (kt) in South Africa was 60,425 as of 2016. As the graph below shows, over the past 56 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 77,179 in 2009 and a minimum value of 9,076 in 1960.

Definition: Carbon dioxide emissions from liquid fuel consumption refer mainly to emissions from use of petroleum-derived fuels as an energy source.

Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, United States.

See also:

Year Value
1960 9,076
1961 10,374
1962 11,100
1963 11,705
1964 15,299
1965 15,134
1966 17,231
1967 18,889
1968 17,312
1969 19,926
1970 22,900
1971 32,116
1972 30,704
1973 32,757
1974 32,633
1975 37,033
1976 37,715
1977 37,946
1978 37,026
1979 35,343
1980 30,645
1981 35,005
1982 45,812
1983 48,272
1984 46,875
1985 46,952
1986 46,982
1987 41,455
1988 44,917
1989 52,918
1990 40,649
1991 41,272
1992 34,782
1993 23,491
1994 31,852
1995 34,011
1996 32,002
1997 44,521
1998 44,624
1999 30,715
2000 33,329
2001 25,907
2002 22,468
2003 39,776
2004 54,283
2005 27,855
2006 53,124
2007 59,376
2008 63,285
2009 77,179
2010 48,269
2011 62,148
2012 51,309
2013 51,118
2014 56,684
2015 60,722
2016 60,425

Development Relevance: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is naturally occurring gas fixed by photosynthesis into organic matter. A byproduct of fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning, it is also emitted from land use changes and other industrial processes. It is the principal anthropogenic greenhouse gas that affects the Earth's radiative balance. It is the reference gas against which other greenhouse gases are measured, thus having a Global Warming Potential of 1. An emission intensity is the average emission rate of a given pollutant from a given source relative to the intensity of a specific activity. Emission intensities are also used to compare the environmental impact of different fuels or activities. The related terms - emission factor and carbon intensity - are often used interchangeably. Burning of carbon-based fuels since the industrial revolution has rapidly increased concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, increasing the rate of global warming and causing anthropogenic climate change. It is also a major source of ocean acidification since it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid. The addition of man-made greenhouse gases to the Atmosphere disturbs the earth's radiative balance. This is leading to an increase in the earth's surface temperature and to related effects on climate, sea level rise and world agriculture. Emissions of CO2 are from burning oil, coal and gas for energy use, burning wood and waste materials, and from industrial processes such as cement production. The carbon dioxide emissions of a country are only an indicator of one greenhouse gas. For a more complete idea of how a country influences climate change, gases such as methane and nitrous oxide should be taken into account. This is particularly important in agricultural economies. The environmental effects of carbon dioxide are of significant interest. Carbon dioxide (CO2) makes up the largest share of the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming and climate change. Converting all other greenhouse gases (methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)) to carbon dioxide (or CO2) equivalents makes it possible to compare them and to determine their individual and total contributions to global warming. The Kyoto Protocol, an environmental agreement adopted in 1997 by many of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is working towards curbing CO2 emissions globally.

Limitations and Exceptions: The U.S. Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) calculates annual anthropogenic emissions from data on fossil fuel consumption (from the United Nations Statistics Division's World Energy Data Set) and world cement manufacturing (from the U.S. Department of Interior's Geological Survey, USGS 2011). Although estimates of global carbon dioxide emissions are probably accurate within 10 percent (as calculated from global average fuel chemistry and use), country estimates may have larger error bounds. Trends estimated from a consistent time series tend to be more accurate than individual values. Each year the CDIAC recalculates the entire time series since 1949, incorporating recent findings and corrections. Estimates exclude fuels supplied to ships and aircraft in international transport because of the difficulty of apportioning the fuels among benefiting countries.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Carbon dioxide emissions, largely by-products of energy production and use, account for the largest share of greenhouse gases, which are associated with global warming. Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions result primarily from fossil fuel combustion and cement manufacturing. In combustion different fossil fuels release different amounts of carbon dioxide for the same level of energy use: oil releases about 50 percent more carbon dioxide than natural gas, and coal releases about twice as much. Cement manufacturing releases about half a metric ton of carbon dioxide for each metric ton of cement produced. Data for carbon dioxide emissions include gases from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacture, but excludes emissions from land use such as deforestation. Carbon dioxide emissions are often calculated and reported as elemental carbon. The values were converted to actual carbon dioxide mass by multiplying them by 3.667 (the ratio of the mass of carbon to that of carbon dioxide).

Aggregation method: Gap-filled total

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Emissions