Let’s cut to the chase—if you’ve ever wondered where all that extra CO₂ messing with our climate comes from, you’re not alone. I run a small-but-mighty CO₂ supply company, and I’ve spent years talking to farmers, beverage makers, and industrial folks who don’t just want to hear textbook jargon—they want the straight facts. Let’s break this down like we’re chatting over a coffee, no stuffy terms, I promise. Carbon Dioxide
First off, the biggest culprit by far is fossil fuels. If you’ve ever filled up your gas tank, flipped on a light that runs on coal, or cranked your AC with power from a natural gas plant, you’re contributing to the 65% of global CO₂ emissions that come from burning these old carbon deposits. Wait, let’s make that real: when you burn gasoline in your car, that’s not just powering your drive—you’re releasing carbon that’s been trapped underground for millions of years straight into the atmosphere. Same with making cement, heating your home, or running a factory that turns out everything from steel to plastic. I see this daily because a lot of my clients are manufacturers that need purified CO₂, and they’ll tell you how their industrial processes (like fermenting alcohol or processing food) are a huge source, but even they’ll admit the fossil-fuel side of their operations is the bigger bill. Don’t get me wrong—fossil fuels aren’t all bad, but when we burn them faster than the planet can reabsorb that ancient carbon, we end up with a surplus.
Next up, land use changes, and this one hits different because it’s not just “big factories” doing this. When we clear forests for farms, housing, or even just to sell timber, we’re cutting down trees that would normally soak up CO₂ like sponges. And when you burn that dead wood (which people do for clearing or even for cooking in some places), that releases all the carbon stored in the wood right back into the air. It’s like if you had a savings account and you not only spent all your savings but also burned the bank for good measure. Currently, land use change is responsible for around 10% of global CO₂ emissions, but that number spikes if we’re talking about hotspots like the Amazon or Southeast Asian rainforests. I’ve worked with some agricultural clients who actually get this—they’re switching to agroforestry (growing trees alongside crops) not just to help the planet, but because they know losing forests means less natural CO₂ sequestration, which makes our job (supplying purified CO₂ for things like crop enhancement) a little trickier long-term.
Then there’s the one that a lot of people sleep on: industrial process emissions that aren’t just energy use. Think about making steel—you need to heat iron ore to super high temps, and that reaction actually releases CO₂ as a byproduct, not just from burning fuel. Same with making cement: when you heat limestone to turn it into the stuff that holds concrete together, it chemically breaks down and releases CO₂, no burning involved. These process emissions make up around 7% of global CO₂, and for industries like steel and cement, it’s not something they can just turn off easily. A lot of my CO₂ supply comes directly from these industrial byproducts, actually—we capture the CO₂ that would otherwise float up a smokestack, purify it, and sell it to people who need it for things like carbonating drinks or making food packaging. It’s a win-win, right? We’re keeping waste gas out of the air, and we’re turning a byproduct into something useful. That’s the kind of stuff I get fired up about—turning emissions into a resource.
Wait, let’s not forget the smaller but still meaningful stuff—waste and agriculture. When organic matter (like food scraps, sewage, or even dead plants) breaks down without oxygen (which happens in landfills or in the guts of livestock), it releases CO₂ too, but mostly methane, which is a different greenhouse gas, but when it does release CO₂, it’s part of the mix. And agriculture itself—livestock like cows, sheep, and goats produce a lot of methane when they digest food, but the crops we grow, especially rice, also contribute a bit of CO₂ from the way they’re grown (like tilling soil, which disturbs carbon stored in the ground). Rice paddies, for example, are flooded, which creates low-oxygen environments that release CO₂ and methane. I’ve had farmers ask me if we supply CO₂ for agricultural uses, and yeah—sometimes it’s for things like enriching greenhouse air to help plants grow faster, but most of the ag emissions are from the actual farming work, not the purified CO₂ we sell.
Now, let’s get personal here—this isn’t just a global problem. I’ve been in this CO₂ supply game for 12 years, and I’ve seen firsthand how the sources of emissions hit local communities too. A factory opening up in a small town might mean jobs, but it also means more CO₂ in the air, which can affect air quality for nearby residents. Or a local forest being cleared for a new subdivision means less shade, higher temperatures, and less natural CO₂ absorption. That’s why what I do matters—we’re not just selling a gas; we’re helping companies turn their waste into a product that’s used in everything from soda to fire extinguishers to medical equipment.
Let’s set the record straight too—there’s a lot of misinformation out there about where CO₂ comes from. Some people blame all of it on cars, but actually, transportation is only around 24% of global emissions. Power generation is another big one, around 25%, but the industrial sector, including those process emissions I mentioned, is even higher at roughly 30%. And land use change is that 10% we talked about, with the rest split between things like residential heating, waste, and agriculture. So cars are part of the problem, but they’re not the whole story, and neither are “big companies.” It’s a mix of everything we do that relies on carbon in some way.
What’s also key here is that not all CO₂ is created equal. There’s biogenic CO₂, which comes from living or recently living things—like burning wood, or fermenting corn for fuel. That’s CO₂ that was recently absorbed by plants, so when it’s released, it’s part of a short-term cycle, not adding new carbon to the atmosphere. Then there’s fossil CO₂, which is that ancient carbon I mentioned earlier—locked underground for millions of years, released in a matter of days when we burn it, throwing the whole cycle out of whack. And lastly, there’s captured industrial CO₂, which is the stuff I work with—we’re pulling it from smokestacks before it gets into the air, so we’re keeping emissions in check. That’s the sustainable side of my business, and it’s why I care so much about helping companies reduce their net emissions.
I’ve had clients come to me all the time saying, “We want to cut our carbon footprint, but we don’t know where to start.” And one of the first things I tell them is to audit their CO₂ sources. Are they burning fossil fuels for energy? Are they using processes that release CO₂ as a byproduct? Are they contributing to deforestation that’s reducing the planet’s ability to absorb CO₂? For example, a beverage company that uses purified CO₂ for carbonation—if they were previously buying CO₂ from fossil fuel sources, switching to captured industrial CO₂ from my company would cut their net emissions a ton. It’s a small change that adds up, and that’s what this is all about.
Another thing I’ve learned over the years is that emissions aren’t just a environmental issue—they’re an economic one. Countries that rely on fossil fuels for power are dealing with price volatility, as we saw a couple years back when natural gas prices skyrocketed. Meanwhile, industries that are switching to low-carbon sources or using captured CO₂ are saving money in the long run, not to mention avoiding potential regulations that are coming down the pike as countries get serious about climate action. I’ve seen small manufacturing shops that were on the fence about switching to renewable energy for their operations realize that it not only cuts their CO₂ emissions (from both energy use and process emissions) but also lowers their monthly bills.
Let’s talk about some of the common myths I run into too. A lot of people think that CO₂ is just a “pollutant” full stop, but it’s actually essential for life on Earth—plants need it to grow, it helps regulate our planet’s temperature, and we use it in tons of products we rely on every day. The problem is the excess. For millennia, natural cycles kept CO₂ levels around 280 parts per million (ppm). Today, we’re at over 420 ppm, and that extra is what’s causing climate change. So it’s not that CO₂ is bad—it’s that we’re putting way too much of it into the atmosphere way too fast.
So what does all this mean for my business and for anyone reading this? If you’re a manufacturer, a farmer, a beverage maker, or even a small business owner looking to reduce your carbon footprint, understanding where your CO₂ (and your emissions) come from is the first step. And if you’re in a position where you can use purified CO₂ that’s captured from industrial processes instead of fossil fuels, that’s a concrete way to make a difference. I’ve been in this long enough to know that small, consistent changes add up, and that there’s no “one size fits all” solution to cutting emissions. But the first step is being honest about where those emissions come from, and that’s exactly what I help my clients do—whether that’s sourcing sustainable CO₂ or figuring out how to reduce their own waste gas.
At the end of the day, CO₂ is all around us, and it’s part of every part of our lives. From the gas in our cars to the concrete buildings we live in to the soda we drink, we’re all connected to these emissions. The good news is that we don’t have to just sit back and let the problem get worse. By understanding the sources of CO₂, we can make smarter choices—for our businesses, for our communities, and for the planet. If you’re ready to talk about how to source sustainable CO₂ for your operations, or if you just have questions about where emissions come from, feel free to reach out to connect on your next steps. We can chat through your needs, no pressure, just straight answers that work for you.
Co2 References:
IPCC. (2021). Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2023). Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2022). The State of Food and Agriculture: Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
International Energy Agency. (2022). CO₂ Emissions from Fuel Combustion.
Fortune Gas Co., Ltd.
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