Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emission rate. Illustration showing the global rate of emissions of CO2 gas, visualised as a fountain of metric ton spheres of CO2 gas erupting from Central Park in New York City, New York, USA. Each sphere of CO2 gas is 10 metres in diameter (535 cubic metres). A metric ton (tonne) is 1000 kilograms. In 2012, over 39 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide was added to the atmosphere worldwide, 1237 metric tons a second, or 1237 of these spheres being produced every second. One day of emissions would produce a pile of these spheres 3.7 kilometres high and 7.4 kilometres across. These figures are from 2012.