Fossil CO2 emissions
Carbon dioxide emitted from fossil sources in the year, in million tonnes of CO2, as estimated by the Global Carbon Project for the Global Carbon Budget. Fossil CO2 covers the burning of coal, oil and gas, gas flaring, cement production and other industrial carbonate use. Emissions are counted in the country where they occur (territorial emissions). International aviation and shipping are left out of country figures and included in the World total. Land use change is not included.
Higher than energy_co2_emissions (EIA), which counts CO2 from energy use only, and lower than greenhouse gas totals, which add methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases. Each annual Global Carbon Budget release revises past years.
Key facts
- Fossil CO2 emissions in the World was 38,598.6 million tonnes of CO2 in 2024, according to Global Carbon Project.
- Fossil CO2 emissions in the United States was 4,904.1 million tonnes of CO2 in 2024, according to Global Carbon Project.
- China had the highest fossil CO2 emissions of 215 countries in 2024, at 12,289 million tonnes of CO2, and Christmas Island the lowest, at 0 million tonnes of CO2. Source: Global Carbon Project.
- Published for 216 places, with figures from 1850 to 2024.
Rankings
Countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2024
Places with data
World, EU and euro area
Countries
- India
- China
- United States
- Indonesia
- Pakistan
- Nigeria
- Brazil
- Bangladesh
- Russia
- Ethiopia
- Greenland
- Sierra Leone
- Comoros
- Oman
- Burundi
- Gambia
Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Which places have the highest fossil CO2 emissions? Use official data and cite it.
rank_places {"indicator":"fossil_co2_emissions","level":"country"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=fossil_co2_emissions&level=country