Global rankings · 2023
Biggest greenhouse gas emitters by country (2023)
Where the 51 economies tracked here fall in the emissions ledger: absolute mass (who emits the most CO₂e overall) and per person (who emits the most per capita), 2023.
What the ranking shows
China leads absolute emissions at 15,970 MtCO₂e in 2023, while United Arab Emirates leads per person at 27.0 tCO₂e; the top five absolute emitters account for 64% of the 47.1 Gt tracked total. Australia is the #15 cutoff to make this list at 572 MtCO₂e.
- China
- #1 absolute · 15,970 Mt
- United Arab Emirates
- #1 per person · 27.0 t
- 64%
- share from top 5
- #15
- cutoff · 572 Mt
Source: EU EDGAR v8.0 (AR6 GWP100, excludes LULUCF). Absolute MtCO₂e and per-capita from the same 2023 year totals.
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.
Top-5 concentration
Share of 47.1 Gt tracked total
The bar to make this top-15 list
Every EDGAR-tracked economy, grouped by total 2023 greenhouse-gas mass
572 15th of 51 higher than 36 of 51 economies
the full population, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more economies. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source EU EDGAR v8.0 (Joint Research Centre, 2024) · 2023
| # | 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.
The bar to make this top-15 per-capita list
Every EDGAR-tracked economy with population data, grouped by tCO₂e per person (2023)
10 15th of 51 higher than 36 of 51 economies
the full population, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more economies. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source EU EDGAR v8.0 (Joint Research Centre, 2024) · 2023
| # | 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.
Download the country-level EDGAR extract used for these rankings: country-emissions-statistics.csv. National reference on statistics.
According to the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, the EDGAR v8.0 dataset publishes country- and sector-level greenhouse-gas inventories on a common bottom-up model. Every figure on PlainEmissions is rebuilt from that release; no number is typed in by an editor. Absolute and per-capita rankings are computed from the same EDGAR year totals; LULUCF excluded for comparability. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of EDGAR 2023. EDGAR figures are production-based inventory totals for a published reference year (AR6 GWP100, LULUCF excluded on ranked surfaces) - not climate policy advice, real-time emissions, or a substitute for UNFCCC legal inventories.