List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions

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 released in 2018. The following table lists the 1990, 2005 and 2017 annual CO₂ emissions estimates (in Megatonnes of CO₂ per year) along with a list of calculated emissions per km² (in tonnes of CO₂ per year) and emissions per capita (in tonnes of CO₂ per year).

Global carbon dioxide emissions by country in 2015. Source: Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research.

Countries by carbon dioxide emissions in thousands of tonnes per annum, via the burning of fossil fuels (blue the highest and green the lowest). Based on levels in 2006.

The US, China and Russia have cumulatively contributed the greatest amounts of CO₂ since 1850.[1]

Historical annual CO₂ emissions for the top six countries and confederations

Annual CO₂ emissions by region

The data only consider carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacture, but not emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry. Emissions from international shipping or bunker fuels are also not included in national figures,[2] which can make a large difference for small countries with important ports. When carbon dioxide emissions from land-use change are factored in, the majority of carbon emissions since 1905 occurred in Asia, Central and Southern America, reflecting the fact that developed nations cleared their forests in earlier centuries. Land-use factors have contributed nearly a third of total cumulative anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide since 1850, and until as recently as 1965 was actually a greater source of emissions than the combustion of fossil fuels and production of cement.[3] The methodology for the calculations is public.[4]

The top 10 largest emitter countries account for 67.6% of the world total. Since 2006, China has been emitting more CO₂ than any other country,[5][6][7][8][9] but all being equal, to make a fair comparison of contributions, emissions in terms of CO₂ per person have to be made as China also has the world's largest population.[10] When looking at CO₂ emissions per person, China's levels are less than half those of the United States (the next largest source of CO₂ emissions) and about one-eighth of Palau (the biggest CO₂ emitter per person).[11]

Measures of territorial-based emissions, also known as production-based emissions, do not account for emissions embedded in global trade, where emissions may be imported or exported in the form of traded goods, as it only reports emissions emitted within geographical boundaries. Accordingly, a proportion of the CO₂ produced and reported in Asia and Eastern Europe is for the production of goods consumed in Western Europe and North America.[12]

According to the review of the scientific literature conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon dioxide is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas.[13] The other major anthropogenic greenhouse gases (methane, nitrous oxide (N₂O) and some fluorinated gases (sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs))[14]^: 147[15]), are not included in the following list, nor are humans emissions of water vapor (H₂O), the most important greenhouse gases, as they are negligible compared to naturally occurring quantities.[16] Space-based measurements of carbon dioxide should allow independent monitoring in the mid-2020s.[17]