Using information extracted from the recently published (2013) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the World Resources Institute defines the carbon budget as, “the estimated amount of carbon dioxide the world can emit while still having a likely chance of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.” This infographic, part 1 of 4, shows what that budget is and how much of the budget we have used up as of 2011. It also extrapolates on this information to show when we might expect to reach the end of the budget.
Note: Pgc = Petagrams of Carbon; 1 PgC = 1 billion metric tonnes
