Environmental Research Foundation  [Printer-friendly version]
January 26, 2012

SIZE OF GLOBAL CO2 EMISSIONS VS. SIZE OF GLOBAL PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

By Peter Montague

The BP Statistical Review for 2010 (p. 9) says the global petroleum
industry in 2009 produced 3.8 billion tons of petroleum. According to
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in 2007 global emissions of carbon
(C) totaled 8.4 billion tons. To convert carbon (C) to carbon dioxide
(CO2) multiply by 44/12, so 8.4 tons of C = 30 billion tons of CO2.

Therefore an infrastructure the size of the current-day global petroleum
industry (3.8 billion tons) could capture 1/8th (3.75 billon tons) of
global CO2 emissions (30 billion tons).

Notably, Vaclav Smil, using a different approach, reaches the same
conclusion. See here and here.