Countries by Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from Industrial Processes (Mt CO2e)
China ranks 1st in CO2 emissions from industrial processes at 1,396.17 Mt CO2e, more than five times the output of second-ranked India at 258.48 Mt CO2e. At the other end, Nauru and Tuvalu both record 0 Mt CO2e, rounding to zero. The gap between the top and bottom reflects the vast differences in industrial scale, manufacturing activity, and resource extraction across 203 economies.
Ranking 2024
Analysis
This metric measures annual CO2 emissions from industrial processes, covering IPCC 2006 source categories including cement production (2.A.1), lime production (2.A.2), glass production (2.A.3), other process uses of carbonates (2.A.4), the chemical industry (2.B), the metal industry (2.C), non-energy products from fuels and solvent use (2.D), the electronics industry (2.E), and product use (2.F). Values are expressed in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e) using AR5 global warming potentials. The dataset covers 203 countries, with 100% of data points classified as official quality and all 203 countries reporting data from the last seven years. Ten extreme outliers were identified at the 3-sigma threshold, and the data year is 2024.
The top of the ranking is dominated by large industrial economies and major hydrocarbon producers. China (Rank 1, 1,396.17 Mt CO2e) stands in a category of its own, followed distantly by India (Rank 2, 258.48 Mt CO2e) and the United States (Rank 3, 155.72 Mt CO2e). Russia (Rank 4, 111.76 Mt CO2e) and Saudi Arabia (Rank 5, 85.92 Mt CO2e) round out the top five. Iran (Rank 6, 63.93 Mt CO2e), Indonesia (Rank 7, 59.67 Mt CO2e), Mexico (Rank 8, 55.82 Mt CO2e), Turkiye (Rank 9, 54.44 Mt CO2e), and Japan (Rank 10, 54.28 Mt CO2e) follow closely. High rankings correspond to large volumes of cement, metal, and chemical production.
In the middle of the ranking, notable placements include Trinidad and Tobago (Rank 36, 11.72 Mt CO2e), which outranks Argentina (Rank 37, 11.39 Mt CO2e) despite having a far smaller population. Lao PDR (Rank 49, 5.30 Mt CO2e) ranks above Austria (Rank 50, 5.10 Mt CO2e) and Czechia (Rank 51, 5.03 Mt CO2e). Iceland (Rank 93, 1.68 Mt CO2e) ranks above Bolivia (Rank 94, 1.60 Mt CO2e), reflecting industrial activity disproportionate to its population size. At the lower end, countries such as Nauru (Rank 202, 0 Mt CO2e) and Tuvalu (Rank 202, 0 Mt CO2e) record negligible or no industrial process emissions.
A key limitation of this metric is that it covers only process-related CO2 emissions and excludes energy combustion, land use, and other greenhouse gases. Countries with large cement or steel sectors will score high regardless of their overall emissions profile or energy mix. Reporting quality may vary for lower-income countries, and the aggregation to Mt CO2e can obscure differences in sectoral composition. The metric does not account for population size, economic output, or the relative share of industrial processes in a country's total emissions, which limits direct country-to-country comparisons.
Methodology
Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code EN.GHG.CO2.IP.MT.CE.AR5, for the reference year 2024. The metric measures annual emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the six Kyoto greenhouse gases (GHG), from industrial processes including IPCC 2006 codes 2.A.1 Cement production, 2.A.2 Lime production, 2.A.3 Glass Production, 2.A.4 Other Process Uses of Carbonates, 2.B Chemical Industry, 2.C Metal Industry, 2.D Non-Energy Products from Fuels and Solvent Use, 2.E Electronics Industry, 2.F Product Use. Values are expressed in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e) using AR5 global warming potentials. The dataset covers 203 countries, exceeding the 80-country coverage threshold. All 203 countries (100%) have data from within the last seven years, and 100% of data points are classified as official quality, above the 70% threshold. Ten extreme outliers were identified at the 3-sigma threshold. The average year-over-year change is 8.4%, well below the 50% volatility threshold. Values range from 0.00 to 1,396.17 Mt CO2e, representing a spread of approximately 999%. Energy combustion emissions and non-CO2 greenhouse gases are excluded from this metric.