CO2 Emissions

List of countries by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (courtesy Wikipedia)

This is a list of sovereign states and territories by carbon dioxide emissions due to certain forms of human activity, based on the EDGAR database created by European Commission and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

 Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by country

The table on the left lists the annual CO2 emissions estimates (in Megatons of CO2 per year) for the year 2023, as well as the change from the year 2000.

China is the largest emitter with 13,260 MtCO2eq in the year 2023 and having an increase of 262% from their emissions in the year 2000. 

India  ranks third in the world in terms of fossil fuel emissions with 2955 MtCO2eq in the year 2023. What is worse is that unlike many countries which are making serious efforts to reduce their own fossil emissions,  India has been unable to control its steep /exponential increase in its own emissions - the table shows an increase of 197% with respect to its own emissions in the year 2000.

The countries in the European Union and even the United States are showing a reduction of 20 to 30% in their emissions.

Per Capita CO2 emissions 

China, the United States, India, the EU27, Russia and Brazil were the world’s largest GHG emitters in 2023. Together they account for 49.8% of global population, 63.2% of global gross domestic product, 64.2% of global fossil fuel consumption and 62.7% of global GHG emissions. Among these top emitters, in 2023 China, India, Russia and Brazil increased their emissions compared to 2022, with India having the largest increase in relative terms (+ 6.1%) and China the largest absolute increase by 784 MtCO2eq.

Cummulative CO2 emissions

Since 2006, China has been emitting more CO2 than any other country.[9][10][11] However, the main disadvantage of measuring total national emissions is that it does not take population size into account. China has the largest CO2 emissions in the world, but also the second largest population. Some argue that for a fair comparison, emissions should be analyzed in terms of the amount of CO2 per capita.[12] Their main argument is illustrated by CO2 per capita emissions in 2023, China's levels (9.24) are almost two thirds those of the United States (13.83) and less than a sixth of those of Palau (62.59 – the country with the highest emissions of CO2 per capita).[4][13]


Cumulative CO2 emissions by world region, 2022.

Global map of Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels and industry. Land use change is not included.

Notes: