List of the largest greenhouse gas emitters

The list of the largest greenhouse gas emitters contains several tables with information on greenhouse gas emissions by country, sector and gas, as well as global annual emissions. The greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ), methane (CH ₄ ), nitrous oxide (N ₂ O) and fluorinated greenhouse gases ( F-gases ) are considered. The data is based on the PRIMAP-hist series of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), in which data from various sources were merged to generate a comprehensive and coherent data set of emissions from 1850 to 2017. Emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and F-gases have been on their respective global warming potential in CO ₂ equivalents (CO ₂ -eq) converted. Generally not included are emissions from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).

Overview

In 2017, 47.6 billion tons (Gt) of CO ₂ equivalents were emitted worldwide . The four countries China , USA , India and Russia accounted for more than half of these emissions . Around three quarters (74.2%) of all greenhouse gases worldwide come from energetic use, followed by agriculture (12.8%) and industrial processes (9.3%). The vast majority of emissions consist of carbon dioxide (74.6%) and methane (17.0%).

By country

The following table lists the 40 countries with the largest greenhouse gas emissions in 2017. All figures are to three significant digits or full Mt rounded.

Emissions in millions of tons of CO ₂ -eq

Rank (2017)	country	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2015	2016	2017	Share 2017 [%]	cumulative 1850–2017	Cumulative share [%]
1	People's Republic of China	359	1330	1510	2400	3630	4920	11000	12700	12800	13000	27.3	298500	12.3
2	United States	4090	4650	6180	6550	6530	7370	7030	6690	6550	6510	13.7	585900	24.1
3	India	370	478	614	775	1160	1650	2260	2810	2900	2980	6.3	103500	4.3
4th	Russia	599	1200	1950	2910	3230	1930	2090	2120	2130	2180	4.6	154900	6.4
5	Japan	182	349	939	1120	1280	1380	1310	1330	1310	1290	2.7	74900	3.1
6th	Brazil	108	225	349	537	609	805	1010	1130	1110	1120	2.4	41700	1.7
7th	Iran	43	124	292	247	382	525	778	868	883	916	1.9	28500	1.2
8th	Germany	683	1030	1290	1360	1260	1050	953	915	919	914	1.9	113300	4.7
9	Indonesia	75	110	152	276	370	549	722	845	862	889	1.9	28100	1.2
10	South Korea	20th	39	91	181	316	517	672	722	730	746	1.6	21000	0.9
11	Mexico	88	198	288	424	454	563	689	695	735	742	1.6	30300	1.2
12	Canada	228	293	472	567	609	737	699	728	714	722	1.5	44100	1.8
13	Saudi Arabia	20th	39	195	536	227	345	576	671	683	675	1.4	20400	0.8
14th	Australia	135	193	286	361	423	488	540	538	550	557	1.2	30500	1.3
15th	Turkey	43	66	104	152	228	306	405	480	506	534	1.1	15500	0.6
16	South Africa	152	177	251	311	378	452	536	539	540	533	1.1	26600	1.1
17th	United Kingdom	681	816	923	835	812	725	623	520	495	482	1.0	97100	4.0
18th	Thailand	40	57	81	120	185	282	419	454	463	475	1.0	14700	0.6
19th	France	325	435	650	708	556	559	520	470	471	474	1.0	54800	2.3
20th	Pakistan	50	64	93	124	188	266	368	412	435	456	1.0	15500	0.6
21st	Italy	102	191	398	497	525	560	511	439	437	433	0.9	32800	1.3
22nd	Poland	178	297	429	608	484	403	417	395	403	418	0.9	36100	1.5
23	Malaysia	13	17th	32	57	97	215	338	371	370	373	0.8	8900	0.4
24	Vietnam	30th	52	72	69	83	152	282	343	359	363	0.8	10,000	0.4
25th	Kazakhstan	106	198	273	398	389	214	306	333	338	355	0.7	21400	0.9
26th	Argentina	79	155	203	241	243	297	316	342	347	348	0.7	17900	0.7
27	Spain	67	94	170	278	294	395	362	342	330	344	0.7	20100	0.8
28	Nigeria	45	52	159	391	303	299	302	321	334	335	0.7	17200	0.7
29	Ukraine	215	423	659	954	978	459	421	325	342	326	0.7	45200	1.9
30th	Republic of China (Taiwan)	10	24	42	100	144	246	301	299	308	321	0.7	9800	0.4
31	Egypt	29	34	51	81	126	188	287	295	305	310	0.7	9200	0.4
32	Iraq	16	38	89	154	107	126	178	235	258	263	0.6	8100	0.3
33	United Arab Emirates	4th	9	41	71	61	138	204	254	262	260	0.5	6000	0.2
34	Venezuela	71	115	150	145	193	243	279	272	261	255	0.5	13600	0.6
35	Uzbekistan	20th	44	84	138	192	216	220	233	237	243	0.5	10400	0.4
36	Algeria	16	21st	65	194	163	175	200	232	230	229	0.5	9400	0.4
37	Philippines	36	52	80	97	107	150	173	205	216	229	0.5	8800	0.4
38	Qatar	9	23	59	43	28	63	134	197	199	206	0.4	4400	0.2
39	Netherlands	85	118	197	242	222	221	215	197	197	195	0.4	16300	0.7
40	Colombia	22nd	46	64	86	100	118	147	161	168	167	0.4	6700	0.3
	Other countries ⇛	1557	2224	3674	4262	4433	4303	5107	5372	5413	5432	11.4	318600	13.1
	world	11000	16100	23700	29600	32100	34600	43900	46800	47100	47600	100.0	2430700	100.0

^⇛ Calculated residual size

Since 1850, mankind has emitted greenhouse gases with a CO ₂ equivalent of around 2431 Gt .

By sectors

The following table shows the distribution of emissions across sectors according to the IPCC 2006 categories. It should be noted that energetic uses are fully subsumed under energy , i. H. also emissions from z. B. from heat generation in industry or from fuel consumption in agriculture. The other sectors therefore only contain emissions that do not result from direct energy consumption, such as in cement and glass production (industry) or in the application of fertilizers and animal husbandry (agriculture).

Emissions in millions of tons of CO ₂ -eq

Rank (2017)	sector	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2015	2016	2017	Share 2017 [%]
1.	energy	6950	10600	16700	21500	23500	25400	32800	34800	34900	35300	74.2
2.	Agriculture	2720	3220	3930	4550	4900	5100	5710	5960	6030	6080	12.8
3.	Industrial processes	762	1550	2050	2370	2370	2620	3710	4240	4340	4430	9.3
4th	waste	512	692	838	1020	1180	1370	1530	1600	1620	1640	3.4
5.	Others	78	85	92	112	125	132	151	164	166	168	0.4
	total	11000	16100	23700	29600	32100	34600	43900	46800	47100	47600	100.0

For greenhouse gases

The following table contains the worldwide emissions related to the respective greenhouse gas, converted into CO ₂ -eq. The fluorinated gases (F-gases) consist of HFC , PFC , SF ₆ and NF ₃ .

Emissions in millions of tons of CO ₂ -eq

Rank (2017)	Greenhouse gas	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2015	2016	2017	Share 2017 [%]
1.	Carbon dioxide CO 2	6560	10400	15900	20300	22800	25,000	32900	35000	35100	35500	74.6
2.	Methane CH 4	3325	4325	5750	6725	6650	6725	7500	7850	7950	8075	17.0
3.	Laughing gas N 2 O	1091	1326	1871	2265	2345	2432	2834	3040	3069	3099	6.5
4th	F-gases	7th	16	43	91	145	327	620	804	834	872	1.8
	total	11000	16100	23700	29600	32100	34600	43900	46800	47100	47600	100.0

Worldwide emissions

The next table shows the annual global emissions of greenhouse gases since 1950. It should be noted that old emissions that have already been introduced into the atmosphere sometimes remain there for very long periods of time, which - even with falling emissions - leads to a steady increase in concentrations in the atmosphere .

Emissions in millions of tons of CO ₂ -eq

year Emissions 1950 11000 1951 11600 1952 11800 1953 12200 1954 12500 1955 13300 1956 14000 1957 14500 1958 14900 1959 15500 1960 16100 1961 16300 1962 16800 1963 17500 1964 18200 1965 18900 1966 19700 1967 20300 1968 21200 1969 22300 1970 23700 1971 24300 1972 25300 1973 26600 1974 26600

year Emissions 1975 26400 1976 27700 1977 28200 1978 29200 1979 29900 1980 29600 1981 28600 1982 28400 1983 28500 1984 29100 1985 29800 1986 30100 1987 30900 1988 32000 1989 32400 1990 32100 1991 32500 1992 31800 1993 32000 1994 32200 1995 32900 1996 33600 1997 33700 1998 33600 1999 33900

year Emissions 2000 34600 2001 34900 2002 35500 2003 37000 2004 38500 2005 39700 2006 40700 2007 41800 2008 42500 2009 42000 2010 43900 2011 45200 2012 45800 2013 46100 2014 46600 2015 46800 2016 47100 2017 47600

For future emission paths, see CO2 budget and contraction and convergence .

See also

• List of supporting companies according to greenhouse gas emissions
• List of major carbon dioxide emitters
• List of the largest methane emitters
• List of the largest nitrous oxide emitters
• List of the largest F-gas emitters
• List of countries according to CO ₂ emissions per capita
• List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions

Web links

• Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research - PRIMAP-hist - Further explanations on the PRIMAP-hist dataset.
• Climate Watch - A detailed selection option including visualization of the emission data used here and other emission data (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Gütschow, J .; Jeffery, L .; Gieseke, R. (2019): The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1850-2016) . v2.0. GFZ Data Services. doi: 10.5880 / pik.2019.001
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Gütschow, J., u. a .: Data description. (PDF) PIK, December 2018, accessed on May 24, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Anke Herold et al .: Methodological Choice and Identification of Key Categories . In: 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories . Volume 1 General Guidance and Reporting, No. 4.2 , General rules for identification of key categories, p. 4.7 (English, iges.or.jp [PDF]).