Global rankings · 2023
Country Greenhouse-Gas Emissions Rankings
Where the 51 economies tracked here fall in the emissions ledger, in absolute terms (who emits the most CO₂e overall) and per-capita terms (who emits the most per person), 2023.
- 51
- economies ranked
- 47.1
- Gt CO₂e tracked (2023)
- 64%
- from the top 5
- 27
- t per person · United Arab Emirates
The five largest emitters - China, United States, India, Russia, Brazil - account for 64% of the 47.1 Gt CO₂e emitted by these 51 economies in 2023.
Source: EU EDGAR v8.0 (2024 release), 2023 data year. Absolute figures in MtCO₂e; per-capita derived from population estimates. AR6 GWP100; excludes LULUCF for cross-country comparability.
Top emitters: absolute (MtCO₂e, 2023)
Absolute emissions identify the economies whose energy and industrial choices most directly shape the global atmospheric trajectory.
Largest emitters by total greenhouse gas, 2023
EU EDGAR v8.0 · MtCO₂e
| # | Country | MtCO₂e | Share of tracked total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 15,970 | 33.9% |
| 2 | United States | 5,969 | 12.7% |
| 3 | India | 4,143 | 8.8% |
| 4 | Russia | 2,664 | 5.7% |
| 5 | Brazil | 1,304 | 2.8% |
| 6 | Indonesia | 1,187 | 2.5% |
| 7 | Japan | 1,044 | 2.2% |
| 8 | Iran | 991 | 2.1% |
| 9 | Saudi Arabia | 811 | 1.7% |
| 10 | Canada | 746 | 1.6% |
| 11 | Mexico | 716 | 1.5% |
| 12 | Germany | 683 | 1.4% |
| 13 | South Korea | 657 | 1.4% |
| 14 | Turkey | 608 | 1.3% |
| 15 | Australia | 572 | 1.2% |
Top emitters: per capita (tCO₂e/person, 2023)
Per-capita rankings tell a different story: fossil-fuel-export and high-income economies rise to the top, while the largest absolute emitters fall when normalised by population.
| # | Country | tCO₂e/person |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | 27.0 |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | 22.5 |
| 3 | Australia | 22.0 |
| 4 | Canada | 19.1 |
| 5 | Russia | 18.5 |
| 6 | United States | 17.8 |
| 7 | New Zealand | 16.3 |
| 8 | Kazakhstan | 15.9 |
| 9 | Singapore | 12.9 |
| 10 | Taiwan | 12.9 |
| 11 | South Korea | 12.6 |
| 12 | Ireland | 11.4 |
| 13 | China | 11.3 |
| 14 | Iran | 11.3 |
| 15 | Czechia | 10.5 |
A note on framing
These rankings cover the 51 major economies currently in the PlainEmissions dataset, not all ~200 countries, so "share" is the share of this tracked group, not of literal world emissions. Both lists use production-based accounting and exclude LULUCF (land use) for comparability, since EDGAR reports it separately and it carries the largest uncertainty. Per-capita figures use mid-year population estimates. Our guide on reading emissions time series explains why these framing choices materially affect the ranking.
Every figure on PlainEmissions is rendered directly from EDGAR (EU Joint Research Centre) emissions data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on EDGAR emissions data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.