Countries by Total greenhouse gas emissions excluding LULUCF (Mt CO2e)

Ranking 2024

Analysis

This metric tracks annual greenhouse gas emissions excluding land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF). According to the source definition, it measures annual emissions of the six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphurhexafluoride (SF6)) from the energy, industry, waste, and agriculture sectors, standardized to carbon dioxide equivalent values. This measure excludes GHG fluxes caused by Land Use Change and Forestry. Values are expressed in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e). The dataset covers 203 countries, all with data from the last 7 years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality. The data year is 2024, sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators under indicator code EN.GHG.ALL.MT.CE.AR5. The viability checks identified 26 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, driven primarily by the largest emitters at the top of the distribution.

The top of the ranking is heavily concentrated. China (rank 1, 15,536.12 Mt CO2e) alone accounts for a figure larger than the next four countries combined. The United States (rank 2, 5,912.62 Mt CO2e) and India (rank 3, 4,371.17 Mt CO2e) follow at a considerable distance. Russia ranks 4th at 2,575.65 Mt CO2e, and Indonesia and Brazil rank 5th and 6th at 1,323.78 and 1,299.18 Mt CO2e respectively. Japan (rank 7, 1,063.34 Mt CO2e) and Iran (rank 8, 1,054.77 Mt CO2e) are nearly level. High rankings at the top reflect combinations of large populations, extensive industrial sectors, fossil fuel-dependent energy systems, and significant agricultural activity, all of which are covered sectors under this metric.

The middle of the ranking shows considerable diversity. Germany (rank 12, 674.36 Mt CO2e) and South Korea (rank 13, 668.25 Mt CO2e) sit just above Australia (rank 14, 591.45 Mt CO2e). Notably, Viet Nam (rank 15, 584.26 Mt CO2e) and Turkiye (rank 16, 579.51 Mt CO2e) rank just ahead of South Africa (rank 17, 569.81 Mt CO2e). Mongolia, a landlocked country with a small population, appears at rank 50 with 104.36 Mt CO2e, placing it ahead of Peru (rank 51, 103.81 Mt CO2e) and Kenya (rank 52, 102.84 Mt CO2e). Qatar (rank 41, 162.74 Mt CO2e) ranks above the Netherlands (rank 42, 145.01 Mt CO2e), despite a far smaller population. At the lower end, Iceland ranks 155th at just 4.28 Mt CO2e, and small island territories such as the Marshall Islands (rank 202, 0.004 Mt CO2e) and Tuvalu (rank 200, 0.0041 Mt CO2e) record near-zero totals.

This metric has several specific limitations. Because LULUCF is excluded, countries with large forest sectors or significant land-use change may appear lower than their total climate impact would suggest, while countries with heavy deforestation are not penalized here. The metric reports absolute totals, not per-capita or per-GDP figures, so smaller countries are structurally ranked lower regardless of emissions intensity. Reporting reliability varies: while 100% of datapoints carry official status in this dataset, the accuracy of national inventory submissions differs across countries, particularly for methane and nitrous oxide from agriculture. The 26 extreme outliers flagged at the 3-sigma threshold are a direct consequence of the massive absolute gap between the largest and smallest emitters, not a data quality issue per se. Territories and autonomous regions such as Puerto Rico (rank 125), Hong Kong SAR (rank 93), and Guam (rank 198) are included separately from their governing states, which can affect interpretation when comparing against sovereign nations.

Methodology

Data is drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code EN.GHG.ALL.MT.CE.AR5, for the data year 2024. The metric measures annual emissions of the six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphurhexafluoride (SF6)) from the energy, industry, waste, and agriculture sectors, standardized to carbon dioxide equivalent values. This measure excludes GHG fluxes caused by Land Use Change and Forestry. Values are expressed in absolute megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e), where higher values indicate greater total emissions. The dataset covers 203 countries, all meeting the recency threshold with data from within the last 7 years (100% recency rate). Data quality is high: 100% of datapoints are classified as official. Viability checks identified 26 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, attributable to the extreme range in the dataset (0.0014 to 15,536.12 Mt CO2e, a spread exceeding 1.1 billion percent). Average year-over-year volatility is 4.4%, well within the 50% stability threshold. Coverage meets the minimum threshold of 80 countries.

Sources

• World Bank