The greenhouse effect, essential for sustaining Earth’s life-friendly temperatures, has been intensified by burning fossil fuels. This amplification of the natural greenhouse effect has led to significant alterations to the planet’s climate system. The graphic uses data from the Global Carbon Atlas to explore which countries contribute the most to CO₂ emissions.
Interpretation
A few critical caveats are in order:
1. This is a snapshot in time, emissions are cumulative, and so total historical emissions will look quite different.
2. These are absolute emissions, rather than per capita or per unit of economic output (intensity-based measures)
3. These emissions are production-based, which means that it will skew towards nations where goods are made rather than where they are consumed.
The methods we use for assessing emissions have big implications on how we perceive responsibility for climate change.
Ranked: Global CO₂ Emissions by Country
According to the Global Carbon Atlas, the world’s top polluters are China, India, and the U.S., which accounted for 52% of the world’s CO₂ in 2021.
These countries are also the biggest in terms of population.
| Rank | Country | Region | Total Emissions (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 |  China | Asia | 30.9% |
| #2 |  U.S. | North America | 13.5% |
| #3 |  India | Asia | 7.3% |
| #4 |  Russia | Europe | 4.7% |
| #5 |  Japan | Asia | 2.9% |
| #6 |  Iran | Asia | 2.0% |
| #7 |  Germany | Europe | 1.8% |
| #8 |  Saudi Arabia | Other | 1.8% |
| #9 |  Indonesia | Asia | 1.7% |
| #10 |  South Korea | Asia | 1.7% |
| #11 |  Canada | North America | 1.5% |
| #12 |  Brazil | South America | 1.3% |
| #13 |  Türkiye | Europe | 1.2% |
| #14 |  South Africa | Africa | 1.2% |
| #15 |  Mexico | North America | 1.1% |
| #16 |  Australia | Oceania | 1.1% |
| #17 |  UK | Europe | 0.9% |
| #18 |  Italy | Europe | 0.9% |
| #19 |  Poland | Europe | 0.9% |
| n/a | 🌐 Rest of World | Other | 21.7% |
In terms of CO₂ emissions per capita (metric tons), the U.S. is relatively high at 15.32, while China and India rank lower at 7.44 and 1.89, respectively.
Historically, the U.S. has been the largest carbon emitter, releasing 422 billion metric tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. This is equivalent to almost a quarter of all CO₂ produced from fossil fuels and industrial activities.
Given their massive populations and the fact that countries typically increase their emissions as they become more developed, China and India may continue to grow their shares even further. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that India’s share of global emissions could rise to 10% by 2030.
All of these major contributors of carbon to the atmosphere have set goals to reduce emissions over the next decades. While the U.S. targets net-zero emissions by 2050, China aims for carbon neutrality by 2060 and India recently set a target of 2070.
Source: Visual Capitalist
