Countries by Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from Building (Energy) (Mt CO2e)

Ranking 2024

Analysis

This metric measures annual nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from the building sector, a subsector of energy. Per the source definition, it covers 'IPCC 2006 codes 1.A.4 Residential and other sectors, 1.A.5 Non-Specified,' and values are standardized to carbon dioxide equivalent using Global Warming Potential factors from IPCC's 5th Assessment Report (AR5). The unit is megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e). The dataset covers 197 countries, all with data from the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality. The viability checks identified 30 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and the range runs from 0.00 to 9.31 Mt CO2e, a spread exceeding 999%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by large, populous nations. China (rank 1) posts 9.3066 Mt CO2e and India (rank 2) posts 8.2803 Mt CO2e, together accounting for a substantial share of global building-sector N2O. The United States (rank 3) follows at 5.5429 Mt CO2e. Brazil (rank 4, 2.6924 Mt CO2e) and Ethiopia (rank 5, 2.6338 Mt CO2e) occupy the next two positions, an unusual pairing that reflects the role of large rural residential sectors in driving emissions from this category. Russia (rank 6, 2.021 Mt CO2e) and Australia (rank 7, 1.7264 Mt CO2e) round out the top seven.

The middle of the ranking shows a dense cluster of countries between 0.1 and 0.3 Mt CO2e. Czechia (rank 50, 0.1949 Mt CO2e) sits close to Tunisia (rank 51, 0.1921 Mt CO2e) and South Korea (rank 52, 0.1835 Mt CO2e), countries with very different income levels and building stocks. Several sub-Saharan African nations appear in the top 50, including Tanzania (rank 24, 0.6866 Mt CO2e) and Uganda (rank 27, 0.4925 Mt CO2e), driven by large rural residential fuel use. Ireland (rank 79, 0.0909 Mt CO2e) ties with Sierra Leone (rank 79, 0.0909 Mt CO2e), a notable pairing. Saudi Arabia ranks 154th at just 0.004 Mt CO2e despite its large population and economy, while Kuwait (rank 166) records only 0.0014 Mt CO2e.

Several data limitations apply to this metric. The indicator aggregates across residential and non-specified subsectors, so sector-specific breakdowns are not available. Countries with large informal housing sectors or incomplete energy survey coverage may underreport emissions. The presence of 30 extreme outliers flagged at the 3-sigma threshold suggests high variance across the distribution and means that small changes in reporting methodology can shift rankings, particularly in the middle tiers. Emissions values of exactly 0 for five jurisdictions, including territories such as Guam and the Virgin Islands (U.S.), may reflect reporting gaps rather than confirmed zero emissions. Year-over-year volatility averages 7.2%, which is within the acceptable threshold, but individual country figures may shift materially between reporting cycles.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code EN.GHG.N2O.BU.MT.CE.AR5, with a reference data year of 2024. The metric is defined as: 'A measure of annual emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), one of the six Kyoto greenhouse gases (GHG), from the building sector (subsector of the energy sector) including IPCC 2006 codes 1.A.4 Residential and other sectors, 1.A.5 Non-Specified. 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 197 countries, all of which have data from within the last seven years (100% recency). All datapoints are classified as official quality. Viability checks identified 30 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. The data range is 0.00 to 9.31 Mt CO2e, a spread of more than 999%. Average year-over-year change is 7.2%, within the 50% volatility threshold. Higher values indicate greater absolute N2O emissions from the building sector.

Sources

• World Bank