Countries by Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Industrial Combustion (Energy) (Mt CO2e)
China tops the ranking of CO2 emissions from industrial combustion with 2,793.02 Mt CO2e, more than four times the output of second-ranked India at 689.15 Mt CO2e. At the other end, the Democratic Republic of Congo records 0 Mt CO2e, placing 193rd. The gap between the highest and lowest values illustrates the extreme concentration of industrial energy activity across a small number of economies.
Ranking 2024
Analysis
This metric measures annual CO2 emissions from industrial combustion, specifically the energy subsector covering IPCC 2006 code 1.A.2 Manufacturing Industries and Construction. Values are expressed in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e), standardized using Global Warming Potential factors from IPCC's 5th Assessment Report (AR5). Higher values indicate greater emissions and rank higher in this dataset. The data comes from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code EN.GHG.CO2.IC.MT.CE.AR5, for the data year 2024. Coverage is strong: 193 countries are included, all with data from the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality. The ranking contains 12 extreme outliers identified at the 3-sigma threshold, and the value range spans from 0 to 2,793.02 Mt CO2e, a spread exceeding 999%.
The top of the ranking is heavily concentrated. China (Rank 1) records 2,793.02 Mt CO2e, dwarfing all other countries. India (Rank 2) follows at 689.15 Mt CO2e, and the United States (Rank 3) at 443.92 Mt CO2e. The Russian Federation (Rank 4) registers 290.63 Mt CO2e, while Indonesia (Rank 5) reaches 186.07 Mt CO2e. Japan (Rank 6) at 161.04 Mt CO2e and Iran (Rank 7) at 135.78 Mt CO2e round out the upper tier. These seven countries collectively account for a disproportionate share of global industrial combustion emissions. Germany (Rank 10) and Brazil (Rank 11) are nearly identical at 84.70 and 84.69 Mt CO2e respectively, illustrating how closely ranked economies can be at lower absolute levels.
The middle of the ranking spans a wide range. South Africa (Rank 17) records 48.35 Mt CO2e, while countries like Morocco (Rank 53) at 6.69 Mt CO2e and Nepal (Rank 55) at 6.44 Mt CO2e fall well below major industrialized economies. A notable anomaly is New Caledonia (Rank 91) at 2.13 Mt CO2e, placing it ahead of larger economies like Ghana (Rank 92, 2.04 Mt CO2e) and Panama (Rank 93, 1.89 Mt CO2e). At the lower end, countries such as Dominica (Rank 192) at 0.006 Mt CO2e and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Rank 193) at exactly 0 Mt CO2e reflect minimal recorded industrial combustion activity. Several small island and low-income economies cluster between ranks 170 and 193, with values below 0.06 Mt CO2e.
Several data limitations apply to this metric. The metric covers only CO2 from industrial combustion under IPCC code 1.A.2 and does not capture other greenhouse gases, other energy subsectors, land use emissions, or non-combustion industrial processes. A recorded value of 0 for the Democratic Republic of Congo may reflect data gaps rather than a true absence of emissions. Reporting quality can vary across countries, particularly where national statistical capacity is limited, even though all datapoints are classified as official. The 12 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, including China, can skew comparative analysis. Year-over-year volatility averages 12.5%, meaning single-year snapshots may not represent longer-term trends for all countries.
Methodology
Data is drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code EN.GHG.CO2.IC.MT.CE.AR5, for the data year 2024. The metric is defined as: a measure of annual emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the six Kyoto greenhouse gases (GHG), from industrial combustion (subsector of the energy sector) including IPCC 2006 code 1.A.2 Manufacturing Industries and Construction. The measure is standardized to carbon dioxide equivalent values using the Global Warming Potential (GWP) factors of IPCC's 5th Assessment Report (AR5). Values are reported in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e). The ranking covers 193 countries, all with data from the last seven years (100% recency), and all datapoints are classified as official quality (100%). The dataset contains 12 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. The value range is 0 to 2,793.02 Mt CO2e, representing a spread of over 999%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 12.5%.