For some years now, I have seen this graph go around on social media. I think it’s a powerful image, because it shows us so clearly that it is happening in our lifetime and under our watch.
But when I use it in my work, I always add the disclaimer the the graph does not show when it was made.
Because that is a problem: the graph might show us that if you are currently 30 years old, 50% of all the CO2 that has been emitted since 1751 has been emitted in your lifetime. But that percentage changes over time.
By now, for people who are currently 30, the percentage will be higher, simply because the annual emissions have gone up since the graph was made.
So I made a new version of the graph, the interactive version of which you can find here: http://mishathings.org:8050/
I wrote a post about this: https://mishathings.org/2024-08-12-how-much-co2-has-been-emitted-in-my-lifetime.html
Yes this graph makes way more sense. The original graph had no base, age is arbitrary to events over time without a date of birth. So if you were born in 1751 and were 5 years old the original says 11% of all emissions happened in your lifetime. It also say if you were born in 2019 and were 5 years old that 11% of all emissions happened in your lifetime. It has static measurements across time when yearly emissions aren’t static.