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# Long description

A graph with the horizontal axis marked in years from 1810 to 2010, in intervals of 10 years. The vertical axis is labelled annual CO2 emissions/billion tonnes of carbon and runs from 0 to 9 in intervals of 1. There are 6 lines on the graph, labelled gas flaring, cement production, natural gas, oil, coal and total. The gas flaring line runs almost along the horizontal axis for the whole of its length, with a very slight rise in the 1970s to less than 0.1 billion tonnes of carbon emitted, then a fall again, and a continuing very slight rise after 2000. The cement production line also runs along the horizontal axis for most of its length, then starts to creep upwards very slightly from about 1950 onwards and rises very gently to about 0.3 billion tonnes of carbon emitted in 2008. The natural gas line runs along the horizontal axis till about 1940 and then rises, very slowly at first, then slightly faster to reach its highest level at about 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon emitted in 2008. The line for oil leaves the horizontal axis in about 1910 and rises slowly at first, then much faster from 1940 onwards to reach a peak in about 1980 of 2.5 billion tonnes of carbon emitted. There is then a slight fall and the rise resumes to reach just over 3 billion tonnes in 2008. From about 1840 onwards, the line for coal rises slightly irregularly, but generally steadily upwards to about 2000 when about 2.3 billion tonnes of carbon are emitted, then there is a very steep rise over the next 8 years to about 3.7 billion tonnes. The final line, labelled total, is the sum of all the other lines. From about 1840 onwards, since only the emissions for coal are significant, it rises with the coal line, but then gradually rises above it, as the other sources add in. By 1950, the total is about 1.8 billion tonnes and then the line rises very steeply, though in a slightly jagged way, to nearly 9 billion tonnes in 2008.