List of the largest methane emitters

The list of the largest methane emitters contains tables with information on methane emissions (CH ₄ ) by country and sector as well as on annual global emissions. 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 in order to generate a comprehensive and coherent set of data on greenhouse gas emissions from 1850 to 2017. Methane emissions were converted into CO ₂ equivalents (CO ₂ -eq) using their global warming potential. Generally not included are emissions from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).

Overview

In 2017, around 8.1 billion tons (Gt) of CO ₂ equivalents were emitted worldwide in the form of methane, that is 17% of the total greenhouse gases emitted. About 43% of these emissions came from the five countries China and the USA . India , Brazil and Russia . Around 45% of all methane emissions worldwide come from agriculture, followed by energy use with almost 37% and emissions from waste with 18%.

By country

The following table lists the 40 countries with the largest emissions of methane, 2017. All figures are in 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 in%
1	People's Republic of China	232	453	570	673	825	958	1303	1448	1485	1510	18.7
2	United States	693	703	848	833	780	710	698	663	655	658	8.1
3	India	273	300	330	375	433	485	490	495	503	508	6.3
4th	Brazil	58	121	171	242	278	320	388	413	415	413	5.1
5	Russia	135	207	270	408	463	318	350	363	368	383	4.7
6th	Indonesia	44	63	80	113	126	163	196	221	228	230	2.9
7th	Iran	37	80	189	110	149	122	163	177	181	185	2.3
8th	Pakistan	36	42	54	70	87	116	147	171	175	181	2.2
9	Nigeria	33	40	126	305	239	193	174	168	174	170	2.1
10	Mexico	26th	56	75	92	92	103	128	142	144	143	1.8
11	Uzbekistan	10	16	23	39	65	94	104	124	127	130	1.6
12	Saudi Arabia	15th	36	152	388	75	76	93	106	108	111	1.4
13	Vietnam	26th	40	40	47	53	76	104	105	106	108	1.3
14th	Australia	65	83	109	108	120	113	103	101	102	104	1.3
15th	Thailand	33	46	56	68	76	79	102	94	93	100	1.2
16	Argentina	29	70	81	92	89	100	86	94	96	97	1.2
17th	Malaysia	6th	9	12	21st	30th	59	80	90	92	95	1.2
18th	Canada	58	65	90	83	89	113	93	96	93	93	1.1
19th	Ethiopia	42	28	33	34	40	60	80	85	87	89	1.1
20th	Philippines	28	39	47	51	54	64	74	78	78	81	1.0
21st	Myanmar	29	32	38	43	48	57	75	78	79	81	1.0
22nd	Qatar	9	22nd	52	29	14th	24	53	65	68	71	0.9
23	Venezuela	29	52	68	41	52	72	67	71	70	70	0.9
24	Algeria	10	13	47	123	80	80	72	70	69	68	0.8
25th	Ukraine	44	69	98	156	183	118	85	61	66	64	0.8
26th	South Africa	52	35	39	44	49	54	60	63	63	63	0.8
27	Iraq	13	27	61	103	54	48	60	60	61	62	0.8
28	Sudan	14th	11	19th	26th	30th	49	57	59	60	61	0.7
29	Bangladesh	22nd	24	28	28	30th	41	51	56	56	58	0.7
30th	France	81	90	97	84	70	70	62	58	57	57	0.7
31	Egypt	13	12	19th	18th	26th	47	51	54	55	57	0.7
32	Colombia	9	19th	26th	31	35	41	52	55	56	57	0.7
33	Tanzania	17th	14th	21st	23	27	32	46	55	56	56	0.7
34	Germany	126	139	141	138	121	89	59	57	56	55	0.7
35	Turkey	21st	31	36	42	43	44	51	51	54	54	0.7
36	Kazakhstan	19th	26th	30th	88	102	70	51	51	51	53	0.7
37	United Kingdom	140	154	154	149	133	109	64	53	52	52	0.6
38	Chad	10	8th	9	10	10	13	16	44	47	50	0.6
39	Poland	47	62	73	84	70	53	52	50	50	50	0.6
40	United Arab Emirates	4th	9	26th	35	11	25th	37	45	47	48	0.6
	Other countries *	742	979	1316	1285	1306	1275	1428	1466	1472	1509	18.7
	world	3325	4325	5750	6725	6650	6725	7500	7850	7950	8075	100.0

^* Calculated residual size

By sectors

The following table shows the distribution of methane emissions across sectors according to the 2006 IPCC categories.

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.	Agriculture	1848	2258	2625	2900	3050	3200	3425	3525	3575	3600	44.6
2.	energy	993	1408	2350	2875	2500	2270	2675	2875	2925	2975	36.8
3.	waste	483	653	770	948	1085	1255	1383	1443	1460	1478	18.3
4th	Industrial processes	8th	14th	17th	10	7th	7th	12	13	14th	15th	0.2
	total	3325	4325	5750	6725	6650	6725	7500	7850	7950	8075	100.0

Worldwide emissions

The next table shows the annual global methane emissions since 1950.

Emissions in millions of tons of CO ₂ -eq

year Emissions 1950 3325 1951 3400 1952 3475 1953 3575 1954 3675 1955 3800 1956 3900 1957 4025 1958 4125 1959 4250 1960 4325 1961 4425 1962 4525 1963 4625 1964 4775 1965 4900 1966 5050 1967 5200 1968 5375 1969 5525 1970 5750 1971 5900 1972 6100 1973 6475 1974 6475

year Emissions 1975 6350 1976 6625 1977 6625 1978 6825 1979 6875 1980 6725 1981 6325 1982 6325 1983 6300 1984 6225 1985 6275 1986 6325 1987 6325 1988 6500 1989 6600 1990 6650 1991 6650 1992 6675 1993 6675 1994 6650 1995 6725 1996 6800 1997 6700 1998 6650 1999 6650

year Emissions 2000 6725 2001 6725 2002 6700 2003 6900 2004 7025 2005 7150 2006 7225 2007 7300 2008 7400 2009 7350 2010 7500 2011 7625 2012 7700 2013 7625 2014 7750 2015 7850 2016 7950 2017 8075

See also

• List of the largest greenhouse gas emitters
• List of major carbon dioxide 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 (CH ₄ ) - A detailed selection option including visualization of the emission data used here and other emission data (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} 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} Gütschow, J., u. a .: Data description. PIK, December 2018, accessed September 12, 2019 .