Global rankings · 2023
National CO2 emissions ranking by country (2023)
Who emits the most greenhouse gas in absolute mass (2023): the 51 economies in this EDGAR extract ranked by total MtCO₂e.
What the ranking shows
China leads national CO2 emissions at 15,970 MtCO₂e in 2023; 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% |
Compare the per-capita CO₂ emissions ranking for the population-normalised ladder.
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.