China’s non-fossil fuel CO2 emissions from industrial processes

China is the largest contributor of global CO2 emissions, to date more than quarter of the world total CO2 is from China. Well known on the fossil fuel combustion and cement production as the major emission sources, however, “non-fossil fuel CO2 emissions” are rarely reported by literature (except the emission from cement production). As China becomes the center for global manufacturing, it is critical to understand the magnitude and dynamics of China’s non-fossil fuel CO2 emissions so effective mitigation policy can be addressed. Here we collected data for all kinds of industrial processes CO2 emissions, and based on available data we calculated the CO2 emissions from the production of lime, plate glass, ammonia, calcium carbide, soda ash, ethylene, ferroalloys, alumina, lead and zinc in 2003–2018. We found that China’s CO2 emissions from these ten industrial processes reached 466 Mt CO2 in 2016, which is equivalent to 5% of China’s total CO2 emissions (9000 Mt CO2) from fossil fuel combustion and cement production process. The 466 Mt CO2 is approximate to total fossil fuel CO2 emissions from Brazil, the world top 11 CO2 emitter. The CO2 emissions from these ten industrial production processes show a fast increase before 2014, and fluctuate in 2014–2018. Quantifying such emission is critical for understanding the global carbon budget and developing a suitable climate policy given the significant magnitude and recent dynamics of China’s non-fossil fuel CO2 emissions.