Countries by fossil CO2 emissions

China had the highest fossil CO2 emissions of 215 countries in 2023, at 12,172 million tonnes of CO2. Christmas Island had the lowest, at 0 million tonnes of CO2. The median was 10.5 million tonnes of CO2 and the figure for the World was 38,094 million tonnes of CO2. Source: Global Carbon Project.

Highest12,172China

Lowest0Christmas Island

Median10.5215 countries

World38,094History

Top 40 countries, 2023

million tonnes of CO2. Source: Global Carbon Project, Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Countries	2023 million tonnes of CO2	Change on 2022
1	China	12,172	+3.9%
2	United States	4,918.4	-2.7%
3	India	3,062.8	+8.2%
4	Russia	1,733.1	+3.4%
5	Japan	986.9	-4.2%
6	Iran	789.7	+2.9%
7	Indonesia	762.4	+0.6%
8	Saudi Arabia	677.4	+1.6%
9	Germany	593.8	-11.1%
10	South Korea	589.2	-2.9%
11	Canada	545.5	-0.4%
12	Türkiye	486.9	+9.8%
13	Brazil	484	+0.8%
14	Mexico	458.3	+1%
15	South Africa	436.6	+1.8%
16	Australia	384.3	+0.1%
17	Vietnam	347.4	+7.7%
18	Italy	312.3	-8.2%
19	United Kingdom	307.8	-1.1%
20	Kazakhstan	286.2	+4.3%
21	Poland	283.2	-10.1%
22	Malaysia	276.3	-2%
23	France	270.3	-8.5%
24	Taiwan	267.1	-2.5%
25	Thailand	264.7	-2.9%
26	Egypt	250.2	+0.1%
27	Iraq	227.9	+4.7%
28	Spain	215.5	-8%
29	United Arab Emirates	210.4	+1.6%
30	Algeria	202.8	+5.2%
31	Pakistan	186.9	-11.8%
32	Argentina	178.4	-2.9%
33	Philippines	161	+6.6%
34	Ukraine	139.3	-2.6%
35	Nigeria	129.4	-1.6%
36	Kuwait	123.2	+6.3%
37	Uzbekistan	122.9	+3.2%
38	Venezuela	119.6	+10.3%
39	Qatar	119.5	+9.1%
40	Netherlands	117	-8.2%
41	Bangladesh	104.5	+2.3%
42	Turkmenistan	95.4	-6.5%
43	Colombia	90	+0.6%
44	Belgium	84.7	-4.7%
45	Czechia	83.2	-12.4%
46	Oman	79.8	+2.3%
47	Chile	77.6	-9.5%
48	Morocco	69	-1.2%
49	Romania	67.9	-7.3%
50	Peru	66.1	+2%
51	Libya	64.2	+8.9%
52	North Korea	62	+10.2%
53	Austria	56.9	-7.4%
54	Belarus	55.7	-2.4%
55	Israel	55.4	-11.1%
56	Greece	52	-9.8%
57	Singapore	51.1	+4.4%
58	Ecuador	44.6	+6%
59	Mongolia	44.2	+9.2%
60	Serbia	42.9	-3.5%
61	Azerbaijan	42.7	+3.8%
62	Hungary	40.3	-10.9%
63	Norway	38.9	-4.8%
64	Bahrain	38.8	+2.5%
65	Portugal	37.6	-7.6%
66	Sweden	36.7	+1%
67	Trinidad and Tobago	35.5	-5.2%
68	Bulgaria	34.5	-26.5%
69	Ireland	33.6	-8.5%
70	Hong Kong	33	+7.1%
71	Switzerland	32	-3%
72	Dominican Republic	31.8	+1.9%
73	Finland	31.8	-12.5%
74	Myanmar	31.8	+0.5%
75	Tunisia	31.7	+3.1%
76	Syria	31.7	+0.8%
77	New Zealand	31.6	-1.3%
78	Slovakia	30.8	-2.6%
79	Denmark	28.8	-0.9%
80	Bolivia	24.6	+4.8%
81	Laos	24.2	+7.1%
82	Cuba	23.5	+0.9%
83	Jordan	23.1	+3.1%
84	Angola	21.7	+2.8%
85	Cambodia	21.4	+2.6%
86	Kenya	21.2	+3.1%
87	Tanzania	20.3	+3.1%
88	Ghana	20.1	-2.9%
89	Bosnia and Herzegovina	19.9	-4.2%
90	Guatemala	19.7	+4.3%
91	Sri Lanka	19.2	+4.3%
92	Croatia	18.5	+5%
93	Nepal	18.3	+4.2%
94	Sudan	17.7	+1.1%
95	Ethiopia	17.6	+3.6%
96	Lebanon	15.6	+1.3%
97	Senegal	14.1	-0.4%
98	Côte d’Ivoire	14.1	-3.1%
99	Zimbabwe	13.4	+9.9%
100	Panama	13	+11.1%
101	Lithuania	12.5	-3%
102	Brunei	12.5	+2.2%
103	Honduras	12.4	+5.6%
104	Slovenia	12	-5.6%
105	Georgia	11.9	-0.6%
106	Zambia	11.8	+8.2%
107	Kyrgyzstan	11.1	-3.2%
108	Afghanistan	10.5	+3.4%
109	Tajikistan	10.3	-2.4%
110	Yemen	10.1	-2.5%
111	Cameroon	9.7	-1%
112	Mozambique	9.1	-2.2%
113	Estonia	8.7	-26.9%
114	El Salvador	8.7	+9.6%
115	Costa Rica	8.5	+5.8%
116	Papua New Guinea	8.4	-0.9%
117	Republic of the Congo	8.3	-5.2%
118	Jamaica	8.1	+2%
119	Paraguay	7.6	+1.5%
120	Uruguay	7.6	+1.7%
121	Armenia	7.4	-3.5%
122	North Macedonia	7.3	-0.2%
123	Botswana	7.2	-2%
124	Cyprus	7.2	+1.7%
125	Equatorial Guinea	6.9	-7.8%
126	Luxembourg	6.8	-6%
127	Mali	6.7	-3.9%
128	Latvia	6.6	-0.3%
129	Burkina Faso	6.3	-3.6%
130	Uganda	6.2	+1.8%
131	Benin	5.9	-2.7%
132	Democratic Republic of the Congo	5.9	-0.2%
133	Nicaragua	5.4	+5.8%
134	Moldova	5.3	+3%
135	Gabon	5.3	-8%
136	New Caledonia	5.1	-0.9%
137	Mauritania	5	-4.4%
138	Palestine	4.8	+1.1%
139	Mauritius	4.6	+6.3%
140	Madagascar	4.4	+5.6%
141	Albania	4.4	-1.8%
142	Guyana	4.4	-0.4%
143	Guinea	3.9	-4.4%
144	Iceland	3.5	-2.5%
145	Namibia	3.4	+0.8%
146	Niger	3.1	-2.1%
147	Bahamas	3	-0.2%
148	Suriname	2.9	+1.5%
149	Haiti	2.9	-0.2%
150	Chad	2.8	+1.7%
151	Togo	2.7	-2.5%
152	Lesotho	2.5	-2.3%
153	Montenegro	2.4	-3.5%
154	Maldives	2.2	-0.5%
155	Curaçao	2.2	-0.2%
156	Rwanda	2	+3%
157	Malawi	1.9	+2.8%
158	Malta	1.8	-0.4%
159	South Sudan	1.7	+2%
160	Bhutan	1.6	+5.2%
161	Fiji	1.4	-0.5%
162	Sierra Leone	1.4	-4.4%
163	Barbados	1.3	+0.1%
164	Somalia	1.3	+2%
165	Macao	1	-0.6%
166	Eswatini	1	+0.1%
167	Burundi	0.9	+2.6%
168	Aruba	0.9	-0.2%
169	French Polynesia	0.9	-0.5%
170	Liberia	0.8	-3.4%
171	Gambia	0.8	-4.4%
172	Belize	0.8	+5.9%
173	Eritrea	0.7	+1.8%
174	Faroe Islands	0.7	-1.3%
175	Sint Maarten	0.7	-0.2%
176	Seychelles	0.6	+2%
177	Antigua and Barbuda	0.6	-0.2%
178	Timor-Leste	0.6	-4.9%
179	Greenland	0.6	+3.7%
180	Cape Verde	0.6	-4.4%
181	Djibouti	0.6	+1.3%
182	Comoros	0.5	+2%
183	Bermuda	0.5	-0.2%
184	Saint Lucia	0.5	-0.2%
185	Andorra	0.4	-1.3%
186	Central African Republic	0.4	+3.1%
187	Turks and Caicos Islands	0.4	-0.2%
188	Grenada	0.4	+6%
189	Guinea-Bissau	0.3	-4.4%
190	Solomon Islands	0.3	-0.5%
191	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.3	-0.2%
192	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0.2	-0.2%
193	Samoa	0.2	-0.5%
194	Palau	0.2	-0.5%
195	Vanuatu	0.2	-0.5%
196	British Virgin Islands	0.2	-0.2%
197	Dominica	0.2	-0.2%
198	Marshall Islands	0.1	-0.5%
199	Caribbean Netherlands	0.1	-0.2%
200	Tonga	0.1	-0.5%
201	Micronesia	0.1	-0.5%
202	Anguilla	0.1	-0.2%
203	São Tomé and Príncipe	0.1	+3.1%
204	Liechtenstein	0.1	+2.2%
205	Cook Islands	0.1	-0.5%
206	Kiribati	0.1	-0.5%
207	Nauru	0.1	-0.5%
208	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	0.1	-0.2%
209	Wallis and Futuna	0	-0.5%
210	Montserrat	0	-0.2%
211	Saint Helena	0	-0.2%
212	Tuvalu	0	-0.5%
213	Niue	0	-0.5%
214	Antarctica	0	n/a
214	Christmas Island	0	n/a

Other periods

About this ranking

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.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Andrew, R. M. and Peters, G. P., The Global Carbon Project's fossil CO2 emissions dataset, Global Carbon Budget (Friedlingstein et al.). Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2. https://zenodo.org/records/17417124. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Citation styles

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APA 7

Global Carbon Project. (2025). Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2 (Countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2023) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://zenodo.org/records/17417124

MLA 9

Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2, Countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2023. Global Carbon Project, 22 Oct. 2025, https://zenodo.org/records/17417124. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/countries?period=2023. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Global Carbon Project. 2025. Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2. Countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2023. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://zenodo.org/records/17417124. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/countries?period=2023.

Harvard

Global Carbon Project (2025) Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2, Countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://zenodo.org/records/17417124, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/countries?period=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{global_countries_by_fossil_co2_2023,
  author = {{Global Carbon Project}},
  title = {{Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2: Countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2023}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://zenodo.org/records/17417124},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/countries?period=2023. Publisher attribution: Andrew, R. M. and Peters, G. P., The Global Carbon Project's fossil CO2 emissions dataset, Global Carbon Budget (Friedlingstein et al.). Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2. https://zenodo.org/records/17417124. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Global Carbon Project
TI  - Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2: Countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2023
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/10/22
PB  - Global Carbon Project
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://zenodo.org/records/17417124
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/countries?period=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/countries?period=2023.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Andrew, R. M. and Peters, G. P., The Global Carbon Project's fossil CO2 emissions dataset, Global Carbon Budget (Friedlingstein et al.). Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2. https://zenodo.org/records/17417124. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
ER  -

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Questions

Which country has the highest fossil CO2 emissions?

China, with 12,172 million tonnes of CO2 in 2023, according to Global Carbon Project.

Which country has the lowest fossil CO2 emissions?

Christmas Island, with 0 million tonnes of CO2 in 2023.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Global Carbon Project, Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Fossil CO2 emissions: other rankings

EU countries