"China uses more cement in 3 years than the US did in the entire 20th century".

I see this claim a lot & was curious if it stacked up against data on CO₂ emissions from cement.

So, some more back-of-the-envelope fact-checking below ↓↓

Spoiler: yes, seems to stack up

I'm using annual data on CO₂ from cement prod from @gcarbonproject & CDIAC. You can explore, compare countries, download from our CO₂ data explorer here: https://rb.gy/szuwvo 

My calcs:

CO₂ from cement in USA for entire 20th century = 1838 million tonnes

Annual CO₂ from cement in China (2018) = 781 million tonnes

China emits same in 2.4 years as US in 20th century.

If you're curious how this stacks up with global figures.

Global CO₂ from cement (2018) = 1506 million tonnes.

China CO₂ from cement (2018) = 781 million tonnes.

So China accounts for around half.

Global CO₂ from cement over entire 20th century ~ 18,000 million tonnes.

Chinese cement CO₂ since 2000 ~ 11,000 million tonnes.

So Chinese cement emissions in 21st century so far = more than half global cement emissions in 20th century.