The chart illustrates how much carbon three types of fossil fuels emitted from 1990 to 2010, measured in million tons.
Overall, there was a decrease in the emissions of Oil and Coal, while an increase was seen in the figure for gas emissions, making it the largest source of emissions from 2000 onwards. Additionally, the emissions of coal were initially highest in the first two years but was later surpassed by that of oil and gas.
The amount of carbon being emitted from gas was about 220 million tons in 1990, being the lowest among the three. Afterward, it witnessed a considerable rise to surpass the other two at 300 million tons by 2000. It then continued to grow, but to a lesser extent, ending the period at around 340 million tons.
Approximately 270 million tons were emitted from Oil in the first year. Despite some fluctuations in the first few years, the oil emissions then steadily declined from about 260 million tons in 2000 to 210 million tons in 2010. Similar changes can be seen in the figure for coal emissions, which experienced a steady decrease from above 300 million tons in 1990 to under 200 million tons by the end of the period.