Countries by Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (total) excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e)
China ranks first in CO2 emissions excluding LULUCF at 13,124.73 Mt CO2e, nearly three times the United States at rank 2 with 4,632.16 Mt CO2e. At the other end, Nauru and Tuvalu both record 0 Mt CO2e, placing joint 202nd. The gap between the top and bottom of this 203-country ranking spans more than 13,000 Mt CO2e.
Ranking 2024
Analysis
This metric measures annual CO2 emissions in million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e) across the agriculture, energy, waste, and industrial sectors, excluding land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF). Per the source definition, it covers carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the six Kyoto greenhouse gases, standardized using Global Warming Potential factors from the IPCC's 5th Assessment Report (AR5). The dataset covers 203 countries, all with data from the last seven years (100% recency), and 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality, well above the 70% threshold. The value range runs from 0 to 13,124.73 Mt CO2e, a spread exceeding 999%, and the dataset contains 22 extreme outliers at the 3-standard-deviation threshold.
The top of the ranking is heavily concentrated. China (rank 1, 13,124.73 Mt CO2e) alone accounts for an outsized share of global totals in this dataset. The United States (rank 2, 4,632.16 Mt CO2e) and India (rank 3, 3,153.83 Mt CO2e) follow at a significant distance. The Russian Federation ranks 4th at 2,009.15 Mt CO2e, and Japan ranks 5th at 972.27 Mt CO2e. Below that, Iran (rank 6, 828.99 Mt CO2e), Indonesia (rank 7, 812.20 Mt CO2e), and Saudi Arabia (rank 8, 652.51 Mt CO2e) represent major emitters outside the traditional large-economy group. High rankings broadly correspond to large industrial bases, large populations, and significant fossil fuel production or consumption.
The middle of the ranking shows notable variation. Viet Nam places 16th at 430.82 Mt CO2e, ranking above Australia (rank 17, 383.40 Mt CO2e) and ahead of several larger European economies. Qatar (rank 34, 135.27 Mt CO2e) and Kuwait (rank 39, 115.93 Mt CO2e) rank substantially higher than their populations would suggest, reflecting energy-intensive sectors. In the lower half, countries like Zambia (rank 104, 11.57 Mt CO2e), Haiti (rank 144, 3.51 Mt CO2e), and Niger (rank 146, 3.21 Mt CO2e) record very low absolute emissions. Small island states and territories dominate the bottom: Kiribati ranks 194th at 0.08 Mt CO2e, and Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa each record 0.0001 Mt CO2e at ranks 199 to 201.
This metric reports absolute total emissions, not per capita or emissions intensity figures, so populous countries rank higher regardless of efficiency. LULUCF is explicitly excluded, meaning deforestation and land-use change emissions are not captured here; countries with large forestry sectors may appear lower in relative terms than their total greenhouse gas impact. Reporting methodologies can differ across countries and sectors, and some values for smaller territories or low-capacity states may rely on estimation rather than direct measurement. The metric covers only CO2 among greenhouse gases in its label, but values are expressed as CO2 equivalents using AR5 GWP factors, which may affect comparability with datasets using earlier IPCC assessment factors.
Methodology
Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code EN.GHG.CO2.MT.CE.AR5, for the reference 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 the agriculture, energy, waste, and industrial sectors, excluding LULUCF. The measure is standardized to carbon dioxide equivalent values using the Global Warming Potential (GWP) factors of IPCC's 5th Assessment Report (AR5). The ranking covers 203 countries, all meeting the recency threshold with data from the last seven years (100% coverage). All 203 datapoints are classified as official quality. The dataset exhibits high variance, with values ranging from 0 to 13,124.73 Mt CO2e (a 999%+ spread) and 22 extreme outliers identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 6.3%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Units are absolute Mt CO2e values; higher values indicate greater total emissions.