Carbon Budget Calculator

Scale
National
Expertise Level
Practitioner
Specialist
Resource Type
Analysis Tools
Language
English
Developer or Source
Patrik Erdes

Human emissions of greenhouse gases are causing global warming. There is a strong relationship between the total amount of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere before achieving net zero emissions, and the total amount of warming achieved. A carbon budget is an amount of CO2 that can be emitted, while still limiting the warming to a specific number of degrees. To make sure a carbon budget does not overrun, net zero emissions must be achieved before the budget runs out.

The Paris Agreement state that the global temperature increase should be kept well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and that efforts should be pursued to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The SR15 report shows clearly that the risks with 1.5°C of warming are lower than with 2.0°C. (There are still substantial risks even at 1.5°C of warming.)

This tool allows users to calculate carbon budgets at the global scale, as well as for individual countries