Daily global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Illustration of a pile of metric ton spheres of CO2 gas engulfing skyscrapers in New York City. Each sphere is 10 metres in diameter (535 cubic metres) and represents greenhouse gas-equivalent volumes of CO2 gas. A metric ton (tonne) is 1000 kilograms. In 2012, over 39 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide was added to the atmosphere worldwide. One day of emissions would produce this pile of these spheres 3.7 kilometres high and 7.4 kilometres across. The CO2 emitted daily worldwide would fill the UN Secretariat Building (centre) in less than half a second. These figures are from 2012.