AbstractEl Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) influence on carbon dioxide (CO₂) growth rates are not spatially uniform or simultaneous around the globe. Using atmospheric CO₂ observations and atmospheric chemistry‐transport model (ACTM), we show that anomalies in CO₂ fluxes and growth rate originate in the tropics, as an effect of ENSO. The CO₂ anomalies are then propagated from the equator toward the poles with asymmetric delays. A maximum delay of about 8 and 4 months are found at the northern hemisphere (NH) and southern hemisphere (SH) high latitudes, respectively. This asymmetric time delay is because of the CO₂ flux anomaly mainly originate in the tropical SH land and transport of SH air into the NH is slower than that for NH air into the SH. The poleward increase of time delay is more homogeneous in the upper troposphere, as per the ACTM simulations, but observational evidence suffers from gaps in long‐term measurements.