Global and national lime process emissions and carbonation sink from 1930 to 2024
Abstract
Accurate quantification of lime process emissions and subsequent carbonation uptake is needed to represent the lime carbon cycle in global carbon-budget assessments. We developed a source-prioritized and internally cross-checked dataset for 1930–2024 by harmonizing USGS statistics, national statistical yearbooks, industrial records, and explicitly identified proxy-based reconstructions. The framework resolves 11 major lime-producing countries, collectively representing 78.9 % of global lime production, and derives country-specific process-emission factors from sectoral lime-use structures and CaO-content requirements. Annual global lime carbonation uptake increased from 4.1 Mt CO 2 yr −1 (95 % CI: 3.5–4.8 Mt CO 2 yr −1 ) in 1930 to 136.1 Mt CO 2 yr −1 (95 % CI: 107.9–171.5 Mt CO 2 yr −1 ) in 2024, corresponding to a compound annual growth rate of 3.8 %. Cumulative process emissions reached 11.3 Gt CO 2 (95 % confidence interval (CI): 10.7–11.9 Gt CO 2 ), of which construction and metallurgy contributed 3.9 Gt CO 2 (34.5 %) and 3.8 Gt CO 2 (33.5 %), respectively. Cumulative carbonation uptake reached 4.8 Gt CO 2 (95 % CI: 3.9–5.8 Gt CO 2 ), offsetting 42.2 % of process emissions, 3.4 % higher than the 38.8 % estimate for 1930–2020 reported by Bing et al. (2023). China contributed 5.5 Gt CO 2 of process emissions (48.3 % of the global total) and 1.9 Gt CO 2 of carbonation uptake (40.7 %). Uncertainties associated with data sources, historical reconstruction, and material parameters were propagated through 10 000 Monte Carlo iterations. Metallurgical by-products and construction materials dominated cumulative uptake. Country-level trajectories indicate that most developed economies have passed their lime process-emission peaks, whereas China remains on a growth trajectory and Brazil retains substantially higher emissions than its early historical levels despite a modest decline after its 2013 peak. This dataset provides a consistent empirical basis for representing lime-related carbon sources and sinks in global carbon-cycle assessments and is archived in the Science Data Bank at https://doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.45314 (Bing et al., 2026).