CO2 Emissions

Fossil CO2 Emissions (2016)
35,753,305,000tons
Change
+0.34%
Per capita
4.76 tons
See data table

What is a greenhouse gas?

A greenhouse gas (GHG) is any gaseous compound that is capable of absorbing and emitting infrared radiation, thereby allowing less heat to escape back to space, and 'trapping' it in the lower atmosphere.

The major greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ozone (O3).

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions by Country

See full table

# Country CO2 Emissions
(tons, 2016)
1 Year
Change
Population
(2016)
Per
capita
Share
of world
1 China 10,432,751,400 -0.28% 1,401,889,681 7.44 29.18%
2 United States 5,011,686,600 -2.01% 327,210,198 15.32 14.02%
3 India 2,533,638,100 4.71% 1,338,636,340 1.89 7.09%
4 Russia 1,661,899,300 -2.13% 145,109,157 11.45 4.65%
5 Japan 1,239,592,060 -1.21% 126,993,857 9.76 3.47%
6 Germany 775,752,190 1.28% 82,331,423 9.42 2.17%
7 Canada 675,918,610 -1.00% 36,113,532 18.72 1.89%
8 Iran 642,560,030 2.22% 83,306,231 7.71 1.80%
9 South Korea 604,043,830 0.45% 51,309,984 11.77 1.69%
10 Indonesia 530,035,650 6.41% 261,850,182 2.02 1.48%
11 Saudi Arabia 517,079,407 0.92% 33,416,270 15.47 1.45%
12 Brazil 462,994,920 -6.08% 206,859,578 2.24 1.29%
13 Mexico 441,412,750 -2.13% 121,519,221 3.63 1.23%
14 Australia 414,988,700 -0.98% 24,195,701 17.15 1.16%
15 South Africa 390,557,850 -0.49% 56,422,274 6.92 1.09%
16 Turkey 368,122,740 5.25% 81,019,394 4.54 1.03%
17 United Kingdom 367,860,350 -6.38% 65,655,203 5.60 1.03%
18 Italy 358,139,550 0.84% 60,118,626 5.96 1.00%
19 France 331,533,320 2.11% 63,989,319 5.18 0.93%
20 Poland 296,659,670 2.67% 38,532,113 7.70 0.83%
21 Taiwan 276,724,868 1.91% 23,594,471 11.73 0.77%
22 Thailand 271,040,160 1.55% 70,607,037 3.84 0.76%
23 Malaysia 266,251,542 6.54% 31,526,418 8.45 0.74%
24 Spain 251,892,320 -3.12% 46,473,315 5.42 0.70%
25 Ukraine 233,220,080 8.03% 44,833,569 5.20 0.65%
26 Kazakhstan 231,919,540 1.64% 18,078,553 12.83 0.65%
27 Egypt 219,377,350 4.72% 99,784,030 2.20 0.61%
28 United Arab Emirates 218,788,684 4.43% 8,994,263 24.33 0.61%
29 Vietnam 206,042,140 0.09% 93,126,529 2.21 0.58%
30 Argentina 200,708,270 0.16% 43,668,241 4.60 0.56%
31 Pakistan 178,013,820 9.13% 213,524,840 0.83 0.50%
32 Venezuela 175,884,256 -1.90% 30,741,464 5.72 0.49%
33 Netherlands 163,419,285 1.63% 17,124,505 9.54 0.46%
34 Iraq 162,646,160 1.22% 38,697,943 4.20 0.45%
35 Algeria 156,220,560 0.17% 40,339,329 3.87 0.44%
36 Philippines 126,922,662 12.37% 104,875,266 1.21 0.35%
37 Czech Republic (Czechia) 111,825,428 1.39% 10,527,591 10.62 0.31%
38 Uzbekistan 109,347,340 1.60% 31,453,574 3.48 0.31%
39 Kuwait 101,492,225 1.36% 4,048,085 25.07 0.28%
40 Qatar 98,990,085 1.79% 2,595,166 38.14 0.28%
41 Belgium 94,722,813 1.53% 11,316,836 8.37 0.26%
42 Oman 87,835,773 2.09% 4,398,070 19.97 0.25%
43 Nigeria 82,634,214 0.70% 188,666,931 0.44 0.23%
44 Chile 81,258,525 5.33% 18,083,879 4.49 0.23%
45 Turkmenistan 79,279,216 0.63% 5,868,561 13.51 0.22%
46 Romania 78,770,824 1.69% 19,797,820 3.98 0.22%
47 Colombia 77,667,594 -0.84% 47,625,955 1.63 0.22%
48 Bangladesh 74,476,230 4.50% 159,784,568 0.47 0.21%
49 Austria 73,764,112 1.54% 8,736,487 8.44 0.21%
50 Greece 67,840,662 -3.47% 10,749,742 6.31 0.19%
51 Israel 65,201,588 -0.38% 8,159,009 7.99 0.18%
52 Belarus 62,655,669 4.90% 9,708,110 6.45 0.18%
53 North Korea 58,708,734 19.49% 25,389,611 2.31 0.16%
54 Morocco 57,694,464 0.54% 35,107,264 1.64 0.16%
55 Peru 57,692,879 8.16% 31,132,779 1.85 0.16%
56 Libya 52,696,075 1.52% 6,282,196 8.39 0.15%
57 Finland 51,183,960 3.62% 5,495,219 9.31 0.14%
58 Hungary 51,018,899 2.16% 9,815,104 5.20 0.14%
59 Bulgaria 50,872,910 -6.00% 7,245,975 7.02 0.14%
60 Portugal 50,142,844 -2.36% 10,332,753 4.85 0.14%
61 Singapore 48,381,759 2.56% 5,711,933 8.47 0.14%
62 Hong Kong 47,066,386 1.23% 7,435,927 6.33 0.13%
63 Sweden 44,694,415 4.33% 9,953,317 4.49 0.13%
64 Norway 43,456,012 0.85% 5,236,590 8.30 0.12%
65 Serbia 41,168,059 2.27% 7,493,288 5.49 0.12%
66 Ecuador 40,065,690 -4.85% 16,439,585 2.44 0.11%
67 Switzerland 39,666,930 -2.30% 8,372,898 4.74 0.11%
68 Ireland 39,086,565 5.09% 4,715,788 8.29 0.11%
69 Syria 38,054,696 1.78% 18,964,252 2.01 0.11%
70 Denmark 38,007,645 5.23% 5,706,857 6.66 0.11%
71 Slovakia 36,817,242 1.74% 5,431,203 6.78 0.10%
72 Trinidad and Tobago 34,974,263 -5.92% 1,469,330 23.80 0.10%
73 Azerbaijan 33,614,235 -0.41% 9,976,248 3.37 0.09%
74 New Zealand 33,276,202 -0.14% 4,668,081 7.13 0.09%
75 Angola 30,566,933 3.13% 29,154,746 1.05 0.09%
76 Cuba 30,389,116 1.65% 11,342,012 2.68 0.08%
77 Tunisia 29,395,965 0.82% 11,685,667 2.52 0.08%
78 Bosnia and Herzegovina 25,674,120 0.86% 3,480,986 7.38 0.07%
79 Yemen 25,647,990 1.62% 29,274,002 0.88 0.07%
80 Bahrain 24,458,384 2.50% 1,409,661 17.35 0.07%
81 Dominican Republic 23,466,740 2.88% 10,527,592 2.23 0.07%
82 Jordan 22,772,370 1.83% 9,964,656 2.29 0.06%
83 Estonia 22,402,414 1.01% 1,315,926 17.02 0.06%
84 Lebanon 21,863,288 1.95% 6,258,619 3.49 0.06%
85 Bolivia 19,463,728 2.03% 11,263,015 1.73 0.05%
86 Croatia 19,408,194 3.02% 4,223,751 4.60 0.05%
87 Mongolia 18,574,260 18.09% 3,029,555 6.13 0.05%
88 Guatemala 18,539,316 2.42% 16,291,004 1.14 0.05%
89 Sri Lanka 18,454,691 8.55% 21,425,494 0.86 0.05%
90 Myanmar 16,701,776 5.61% 51,892,349 0.32 0.05%
91 Kenya 16,334,919 3.60% 47,894,670 0.34 0.05%
92 Montenegro 16,249,039 2.27% 633,264 25.66 0.05%
93 Slovenia 14,722,601 2.35% 2,090,020 7.04 0.04%
94 Ghana 14,469,986 3.54% 29,554,303 0.49 0.04%
95 Lithuania 13,685,264 2.66% 2,933,673 4.66 0.04%
96 Sudan 13,294,106 4.18% 39,377,169 0.34 0.04%
97 Panama 11,599,764 2.37% 4,026,336 2.88 0.03%
98 Ethiopia 10,438,855 4.03% 105,293,228 0.10 0.03%
99 Luxembourg 10,144,632 3.45% 583,351 17.39 0.03%
100 Zimbabwe 10,062,628 -4.17% 14,452,704 0.70 0.03%
101 Côte d'Ivoire 10,056,492 1.16% 24,213,622 0.42 0.03%
102 Afghanistan 9,900,004 7.13% 34,636,207 0.29 0.03%
103 Tanzania 9,731,560 2.50% 54,401,802 0.18 0.03%
104 Cameroon 9,454,331 2.21% 23,711,630 0.40 0.03%
105 Honduras 9,320,279 2.25% 9,460,798 0.99 0.03%
106 Papua New Guinea 9,086,988 7.09% 8,899,169 1.02 0.03%
107 Jamaica 8,946,575 1.82% 2,802,695 3.19 0.03%
108 North Macedonia 8,896,732 1.62% 2,110,196 4.22 0.02%
109 Georgia 8,610,414 2.94% 3,771,110 2.28 0.02%
110 Costa Rica 8,328,890 2.16% 4,945,205 1.68 0.02%
111 Moldova 8,258,774 2.99% 3,225,123 2.56 0.02%
112 Senegal 8,247,295 3.69% 14,751,356 0.56 0.02%
113 Latvia 8,157,157 3.41% 1,973,476 4.13 0.02%
114 Nepal 7,833,787 10.10% 27,861,186 0.28 0.02%
115 Brunei 7,672,127 3.54% 425,994 18.01 0.02%
116 Kyrgyzstan 6,941,784 2.53% 6,018,299 1.15 0.02%
117 Cyprus 6,872,427 3.73% 1,197,881 5.74 0.02%
118 El Salvador 6,853,766 0.45% 6,250,510 1.10 0.02%
119 DR Congo 6,564,773 3.77% 81,430,977 0.08 0.02%
120 Benin 6,563,709 4.13% 11,260,085 0.58 0.02%
121 Uruguay 6,508,013 1.91% 3,413,766 1.91 0.02%
122 Cambodia 6,496,958 7.68% 15,624,584 0.42 0.02%
123 Botswana 6,438,429 -3.74% 2,352,416 2.74 0.02%
124 Tajikistan 6,049,757 3.37% 8,725,318 0.69 0.02%
125 Paraguay 5,998,469 1.97% 6,266,615 0.96 0.02%
126 Mozambique 5,859,171 2.22% 27,696,493 0.21 0.02%
127 Gabon 5,694,208 1.12% 2,086,206 2.73 0.02%
128 Nicaragua 5,325,447 1.86% 6,389,235 0.83 0.01%
129 Congo 5,212,302 1.63% 5,186,824 1.00 0.01%
130 Albania 5,208,319 4.45% 2,881,063 1.81 0.01%
131 Uganda 5,009,493 3.82% 38,748,299 0.13 0.01%
132 Armenia 4,597,845 3.06% 2,865,835 1.60 0.01%
133 Laos 4,531,276 7.92% 6,891,363 0.66 0.01%
134 Bahamas 4,404,247 1.51% 395,976 11.12 0.01%
135 Zambia 4,230,584 3.67% 16,767,761 0.25 0.01%
136 South Sudan 4,038,496 4.18% 11,066,105 0.36 0.01%
137 Iceland 3,923,884 1.62% 335,675 11.69 0.01%
138 Namibia 3,901,830 4.42% 2,323,352 1.68 0.01%
139 Guyana 3,253,057 1.61% 759,087 4.29 0.01%
140 Mauritius 3,192,307 0.00% 1,293,911 2.47 0.01%
141 Macao 3,106,518 7.19% 626,688 4.96 0.01%
142 Haiti 3,086,897 1.71% 10,713,849 0.29 0.01%
143 Madagascar 3,026,047 2.85% 25,501,941 0.12 0.01%
144 Martinique 2,715,477 1.72% 380,345 7.14 0.01%
145 Mauritania 2,564,345 3.32% 4,051,890 0.63 0.01%
146 Guadeloupe 2,478,038 1.84% 397,854 6.23 0.01%
147 Burkina Faso 2,352,070 3.14% 19,275,498 0.12 0.01%
148 New Caledonia 2,338,717 7.22% 283,748 8.24 0.01%
149 Togo 2,321,546 5.47% 7,661,354 0.30 0.01%
150 Malta 2,257,870 3.48% 467,705 4.83 0.01%
151 Equatorial Guinea 2,156,371 0.00% 1,398,927 1.54 0.01%
152 Suriname 2,152,933 0.32% 581,453 3.70 0.01%
153 Niger 2,088,475 0.15% 20,921,743 0.10 0.01%
154 Guinea 2,071,798 3.20% 11,930,985 0.17 0.01%
155 Malawi 1,815,598 3.26% 17,405,624 0.10 0.01%
156 Fiji 1,703,193 7.28% 918,371 1.85 0.00%
157 Bhutan 1,682,100 6.14% 749,761 2.24 0.00%
158 Chad 1,670,941 2.14% 14,592,585 0.11 0.00%
159 Mali 1,606,421 2.57% 18,700,106 0.09 0.00%
160 Barbados 1,541,447 1.88% 278,649 5.53 0.00%
161 Djibouti 1,508,851 2.97% 1,023,261 1.47 0.00%
162 French Guiana 1,473,719 1.73% 262,813 5.61 0.00%
163 Rwanda 1,403,087 2.88% 11,930,899 0.12 0.00%
164 Sierra Leone 1,272,332 3.43% 7,493,913 0.17 0.00%
165 Somalia 1,268,442 2.57% 14,292,847 0.09 0.00%
166 Maldives 1,233,015 7.19% 454,252 2.71 0.00%
167 Réunion 1,132,331 3.55% 926,628 1.22 0.00%
168 Belize 1,114,105 1.51% 367,313 3.03 0.00%
169 Burundi 1,093,618 2.81% 10,903,327 0.10 0.00%
170 French Polynesia 1,003,249 7.18% 293,541 3.42 0.00%
171 Liberia 846,658 3.49% 4,706,097 0.18 0.00%
172 Puerto Rico 712,758 1.71% 3,432,740 0.21 0.00%
173 Eritrea 684,140 4.79% 3,365,287 0.20 0.00%
174 Eswatini 657,572 2.61% 1,142,524 0.58 0.00%
175 Bermuda 639,352 1.51% 63,068 10.14 0.00%
176 Saint Lucia 608,182 1.51% 176,413 3.45 0.00%
177 Gibraltar 572,708 3.53% 32,565 17.59 0.00%
178 Grenada 554,848 1.51% 119,966 4.63 0.00%
179 Central African Republic 543,229 2.57% 4,904,177 0.11 0.00%
180 Seychelles 519,693 2.62% 100,508 5.17 0.00%
181 Timor-Leste 495,687 4.63% 1,224,562 0.40 0.00%
182 Antigua and Barbuda 438,763 1.51% 90,564 4.84 0.00%
183 Cayman Islands 406,057 1.52% 62,255 6.52 0.00%
184 St. Vincent & Grenadines 362,414 1.51% 105,963 3.42 0.00%
185 Solomon Islands 341,748 7.18% 628,102 0.54 0.00%
186 Guinea-Bissau 318,706 2.59% 1,834,552 0.17 0.00%
187 Lesotho 318,438 2.58% 2,143,872 0.15 0.00%
188 Aruba 286,871 1.51% 104,874 2.74 0.00%
189 Gambia 254,127 2.59% 2,317,206 0.11 0.00%
190 Tonga 251,375 7.19% 105,707 2.38 0.00%
191 Western Sahara 207,592 2.61% 505,455 0.41 0.00%
192 Saint Kitts & Nevis 203,036 1.51% 47,788 4.25 0.00%
193 Dominica 185,767 1.51% 70,075 2.65 0.00%
194 Samoa 169,939 7.18% 205,544 0.83 0.00%
195 Vanuatu 137,706 7.18% 283,218 0.49 0.00%
196 Comoros 108,422 2.58% 746,232 0.15 0.00%
197 British Virgin Islands 99,762 1.51% 29,739 3.35 0.00%
198 Cabo Verde 99,687 2.59% 558,394 0.18 0.00%
199 Turks and Caicos 65,451 1.52% 38,246 1.71 0.00%
200 Sao Tome & Principe 56,185 2.60% 204,632 0.27 0.00%
201 Kiribati 52,818 7.18% 118,513 0.45 0.00%
202 Falkland Islands 48,568 1.51% 3,508 13.84 0.00%
203 Palau 41,732 7.19% 17,816 2.34 0.00%
204 Cook Islands 37,354 7.19% 17,546 2.13 0.00%
205 Anguilla 30,262 1.52% 14,813 2.04 0.00%
206 Saint Helena 13,128 2.62% 5,510 2.38 0.00%
207 Saint Pierre & Miquelon 8,842 1.51% 5,965 1.48 0.00%
208 Faeroe Islands 1,953 0.60% 49,500 0.04 0.00%
209 Greenland 1,530 0.86% 55,916 0.03 0.00%

CO2 Emissions by Sector


CO2 emissions from burning fossel fuel for the following uses:

  • Power Industry - Electricity production comes mostly from burning fossil fuels, mostly coal and natural gas. Greenhouse gas emissions from industry primarily come from burning fossil fuels for energy.
  • Other Industrial Processes
  • Transportation - from burning fossil fuel for cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes.
  • Non-combustion -certain chemical reactions necessary to produce goods from raw materials, such as cement production, carbonate use of limestone and dolomite, non-energy use of fuels and other combustion, chemical and metal processes, solvents, agricultural liming and urea, waste and fossil fuel fires.
  • Buildings - Commercial and residential. Greenhouse gas emissions from businesses and homes arise primarily from fossil fuels burned for heat, the use of certain products that contain greenhouse gases, and the handling of waste.

    Excluded are: short-cycle biomass burning (such as agricultural waste burning), large-scale biomass burning (such as forest fires) and carbon emissions/removals of land-use, land-use change and forestry.

C02 Emission Trends

  • Global Fossil CO2 emissions were 35,753,305,000 tons in 2016.
  • CO2 emissions increased by 0.34% over the previous year, representing an increase by 122,227,000 tons over 2015, when CO2 emissions were 35,631,078,000 tons.
  • CO2 emissions per capita worldwide are equivalent to 4.76 tons per person (based on a world population of 7,513,474,238 in 2016), a dicrease by -0.04 over the figure of 4.80 CO2 tons per person registered in 2015; this represents a change of -0.8% in CO2 emissions per capita.

Global Fossil CO2 emissions by Year

Year Fossil CO2 Emissions
(tons)
CO2 emisions
change
CO2 emissions
per capita
Population Pop.
change
2016 35,753,305,000 0.34% 4.76 7,513,474,238 1.17 %
2015 35,631,078,000 -0.16% 4.80 7,426,597,537 1.19 %
2014 35,686,780,000 0.76% 4.86 7,339,013,419 1.22 %
2013 35,416,599,000 1.80% 4.88 7,250,593,370 1.24 %
2012 34,790,564,000 0.61% 4.86 7,161,697,921 1.25 %
2011 34,578,390,000 2.95% 4.89 7,073,125,425 1.25 %
2010 33,587,787,000 5.72% 4.81 6,985,603,105 1.27 %
2009 31,770,516,000 -1.10% 4.61 6,898,305,908 1.27 %
2008 32,124,428,000 0.65% 4.72 6,811,597,272 1.27 %
2007 31,916,504,000 3.77% 4.75 6,725,948,544 1.27 %
2006 30,756,174,000 3.32% 4.63 6,641,416,218 1.27 %
2005 29,769,008,000 3.62% 4.54 6,558,176,119 1.27 %
2004 28,729,309,000 4.42% 4.44 6,475,751,478 1.28 %
2003 27,513,926,000 4.42% 4.30 6,393,898,365 1.29 %
2002 26,350,081,000 1.82% 4.17 6,312,407,360 1.31 %
2001 25,877,903,000 1.11% 4.15 6,230,746,982 1.33 %
2000 25,593,733,000 3.48% 4.16 6,148,898,975 1.34 %
1999 24,733,708,000 0.78% 4.08 6,067,758,458 1.34 %
1998 24,541,647,000 0.59% 4.10 5,987,312,480 1.37 %
1997 24,398,282,000 1.34% 4.13 5,906,481,261 1.40 %
1996 24,075,938,000 1.93% 4.13 5,825,145,298 1.43 %
1995 23,619,144,000 3.15% 4.11 5,743,219,454 1.46 %
1994 22,898,963,000 1.04% 4.05 5,660,727,993 1.49 %
1993 22,664,346,000 0.78% 4.06 5,577,433,523 1.54 %
1992 22,488,598,000 -0.45% 4.09 5,492,686,093 1.60 %
1991 22,591,041,000 0.63% 4.18 5,406,245,867 1.69 %
1990 22,450,442,000 0.49% 4.22 5,316,175,862 1.77 %
1989 22,341,747,000 1.80% 4.28 5,223,704,308 1.78 %
1988 21,945,689,000 3.54% 4.28 5,132,293,974 1.81 %
1987 21,195,418,000 3.24% 4.20 5,040,984,495 1.84 %
1986 20,530,265,000 1.75% 4.15 4,950,063,339 1.82 %
1985 20,176,693,000 1.37% 4.15 4,861,730,613 1.80 %
1984 19,904,653,000 3.12% 4.17 4,775,836,074 1.79 %
1983 19,301,703,000 0.61% 4.11 4,691,884,238 1.82 %
1982 19,184,207,000 -1.31% 4.16 4,607,984,871 1.84 %
1981 19,439,731,000 -1.84% 4.30 4,524,627,658 1.81 %
1980 19,803,842,000 -1.14% 4.46 4,444,007,706 1.80 %
1979 20,031,918,000 2.85% 4.59 4,365,582,871 1.77 %
1978 19,477,371,000 3.20% 4.54 4,289,657,708 1.75 %
1977 18,874,320,000 2.98% 4.48 4,215,772,490 1.77 %
1976 18,329,016,000 5.66% 4.42 4,142,505,882 1.80 %
1975 17,346,512,000 -0.29% 4.26 4,069,437,231 1.85 %
1974 17,396,363,000 -0.26% 4.35 3,995,517,077 1.92 %
1973 17,441,791,000 5.93% 4.45 3,920,251,504 1.96 %
1972 16,464,900,000 5.01% 4.28 3,844,800,885 1.98 %
1971 15,679,743,000 -0.50% 4.16 3,770,163,092 2.02 %

Sources