The impact of human and livestock respiration on CO(2) emissions from 14 global cities

BACKGROUND: The CO(2) released by humans and livestock through digestion and decomposition is an important part of the urban carbon cycle, but is rarely considered in studies of city carbon budgets since its annual magnitude is usually much lower than that of fossil fuel emissions within the boundaries of cities. However, human and livestock respiration may be substantial compared to fossil fuel emissions in areas with high population density such as Manhattan or Beijing. High-resolution datasets of CO(2) released from respiration also have rarely been reported on a global scale or in cities globally. Here, we estimate the CO(2) released by human and livestock respiration at global and city scales and then compare it with the carbon emissions inventory from fossil fuels in 14 cities worldwide. RESULTS: The results show that the total magnitude of human and livestock respiration emissions is 38.2% of the fossil fuel emissions in Sao Paulo, highest amongst the 14 cities considered here. The proportion is larger than 10% in cities of Delhi, Cape Town and Tokyo. In other cities, it is relatively small with a proportion around 5%. In addition, almost 90% of respiratory carbon comes from urban areas in most of the cities, while up to one-third comes from suburban areas in Beijing on account of the siginificant livestock production. CONCLUTION: The results suggest that the respiration of human and livestock represents a significant CO(2) source in some cities and is nonnegligible for city carbon budget analysis and carbon monitoring. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13021-022-00217-7.