Countries by F-gases emissions from Industrial Processes (Mt CO2e)
China ranks 1st in F-gases emissions from industrial processes at 502.44 Mt CO2e, a figure more than twice that of the 2nd-ranked United States at 221.49 Mt CO2e. At the other end, Suriname ranks 154th with a recorded value of 0 Mt CO2e. The 999% spread between the highest and lowest values reflects extreme concentration of these emissions among a small number of large industrial economies.
Ranking 2024
Analysis
This metric measures annual emissions of fluorinated gases, specifically hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), from industrial processes including IPCC 2006 codes 2.B Chemical Industry, 2.C Metal Industry, 2.E Electronics Industry, 2.F Product Uses as Substitutes for Ozone Depleting Substances, 2.G Other Product Manufacture and Use. The measure is standardized to carbon dioxide equivalents using AR5 global warming potentials. Values are expressed in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e), and higher values indicate greater absolute emissions. The dataset covers 154 countries for the reference year 2024. All 154 data points are classified as official quality, and 100% of entries reflect data from the last seven years. Twenty extreme outliers were identified at the 3-sigma threshold, indicating a highly skewed distribution.
The top of the ranking is dominated by large industrial and petrochemical economies. China leads at 502.44 Mt CO2e, followed by the United States at 221.49 Mt CO2e and India at 72.23 Mt CO2e. Saudi Arabia ranks 4th at 62.99 Mt CO2e and the Russian Federation ranks 5th at 62.03 Mt CO2e. Thailand ranks 6th at 39.21 Mt CO2e, an unusually high figure relative to its economy size, placing it ahead of much larger economies. The United Arab Emirates ranks 7th at 24.30 Mt CO2e, ahead of Japan (8th, 23.67 Mt CO2e) and Mexico (9th, 22.93 Mt CO2e). These high absolute values reflect large-scale manufacturing, refrigerant use, and chemical and metal production activities as counted under the relevant IPCC source categories.
The middle of the ranking shows a wide range of values. Italy ranks 20th at 14.12 Mt CO2e while Germany ranks 30th at 8.87 Mt CO2e, placing Italy considerably higher despite Germany's larger industrial base. Several African nations appear in the upper-middle tier: Nigeria ranks 19th at 14.55 Mt CO2e, South Africa ranks 16th at 17.36 Mt CO2e, and Cameroon ranks 43rd at 3.73 Mt CO2e. At the lower end, countries such as Ethiopia (148th, 0.0007 Mt CO2e), Tajikistan (143rd, 0.0071 Mt CO2e), and Zambia (150th, 0.0001 Mt CO2e) record near-zero emissions under this indicator. Four countries share rank 150 with identical values of 0.0001 Mt CO2e: Comoros, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Zambia.
This metric captures only emissions from industrial processes as defined by the specified IPCC source categories and does not include F-gas emissions from other sectors such as energy or transport. Reported values depend on the quality of national greenhouse gas inventories, which can vary significantly across countries with differing statistical capacity. The 20 extreme outliers flagged at the 3-sigma threshold suggest that a small number of countries heavily skew aggregate comparisons. Countries with limited industrial reporting infrastructure may understate actual emissions. Rankings reflect absolute emissions totals and do not account for population size, GDP, or industrial output, which limits direct comparability across countries of different scales.
Methodology
Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code EN.GHG.FGAS.IP.MT.CE.AR5, for the reference year 2024. The metric measures annual emissions of fluorinated gases (hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)), from industrial processes including IPCC 2006 codes 2.B Chemical Industry, 2.C Metal Industry, 2.E Electronics Industry, 2.F Product Uses as Substitutes for Ozone Depleting Substances, 2.G Other Product Manufacture and Use. The measure is standardized to carbon dioxide equivalents using AR5 global warming potentials. The ranking covers 154 countries, exceeding the 80-country coverage threshold. All 154 entries (100%) are classified as official data quality, and all reflect data from within the last seven years. The value range runs from 0 Mt CO2e (Suriname, rank 154) to 502.44 Mt CO2e (China, rank 1), a spread of 999%. Twenty extreme outliers were identified using a 3-sigma threshold. Average year-over-year volatility is 7.4%, well within the 50% acceptability threshold.