CO₂ Emissions

Annual carbon dioxide emissions from fossil and industrial sources: combustion of coal, oil and gas, plus the CO₂ released by calcining limestone in cement production. Land use and deforestation are NOT counted here, which markedly changes the rank of a few large forested countries.

Global Carbon Budget 2025, distributed by Our World in Data, from 1965 to 2024, covering about 200 countries. These are territorial emissions: they are attributed to the country where combustion takes place, not to the one consuming the manufactured product. A country that offshores its industry therefore sees its emissions fall without world demand having changed.

Two views coexist, and confusing them is the commonest error on this subject. "By state" measures a country's weight in the world total and supports reasoning about collective responsibility; "per capita" measures the intensity of a way of life and produces an almost opposite map.

China now emits close to a third of world fossil CO₂, while remaining well below the United States, Australia and the Gulf monarchies in per-capita terms. The stock matters as much as the flow: Europe and North America emitted the majority of the CO₂ accumulated since 1850, which is the basis for the "common but differentiated responsibilities" argument in climate negotiations.