Data / Rankings / Fossil CO2 emissions / EU countries

EU countries by fossil CO2 emissions

Germany had the highest fossil CO2 emissions of 27 EU countries in 2016, at 798 million tonnes of CO2. Malta had the lowest, at 1.4 million tonnes of CO2. The median was 47 million tonnes of CO2. Source: Global Carbon Project.

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Highest798Germany
Lowest1.4Malta
Median4727 EU countries

Map of EU countries, 2016

Austria: 67.2 million tonnes of CO2Belgium: 99.8 million tonnes of CO2Bulgaria: 45.3 million tonnes of CO2Cyprus: 7.3 million tonnes of CO2Czechia: 106.6 million tonnes of CO2Germany: 798 million tonnes of CO2Denmark: 36.9 million tonnes of CO2Estonia: 17.4 million tonnes of CO2Spain: 259.6 million tonnes of CO2Finland: 47.3 million tonnes of CO2France: 335.5 million tonnes of CO2Greece: 71.4 million tonnes of CO2Croatia: 18.1 million tonnes of CO2Hungary: 47 million tonnes of CO2Ireland: 40.4 million tonnes of CO2Italy: 358.1 million tonnes of CO2Lithuania: 13.1 million tonnes of CO2Luxembourg: 9.1 million tonnes of CO2Latvia: 7.2 million tonnes of CO2Malta: 1.4 million tonnes of CO2Netherlands: 164.8 million tonnes of CO2Poland: 323.3 million tonnes of CO2Portugal: 50.3 million tonnes of CO2Romania: 76.6 million tonnes of CO2Sweden: 43.3 million tonnes of CO2Slovenia: 14.5 million tonnes of CO2Slovakia: 35 million tonnes of CO2
  • Under 15
  • 15 to 42
  • 42 to 60
  • 60 to 150
  • 150 and over
million tonnes of CO2, 2016. Source: Global Carbon Project, Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2. Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2016

Germany: 798 million tonnes of CO2Germany798Italy: 358.1 million tonnes of CO2Italy358.1France: 335.5 million tonnes of CO2France335.5Poland: 323.3 million tonnes of CO2Poland323.3Spain: 259.6 million tonnes of CO2Spain259.6Netherlands: 164.8 million tonnes of CO2Netherlands164.8Czechia: 106.6 million tonnes of CO2Czechia106.6Belgium: 99.8 million tonnes of CO2Belgium99.8Romania: 76.6 million tonnes of CO2Romania76.6Greece: 71.4 million tonnes of CO2Greece71.4Austria: 67.2 million tonnes of CO2Austria67.2Portugal: 50.3 million tonnes of CO2Portugal50.3Finland: 47.3 million tonnes of CO2Finland47.3Hungary: 47 million tonnes of CO2Hungary47Bulgaria: 45.3 million tonnes of CO2Bulgaria45.3Sweden: 43.3 million tonnes of CO2Sweden43.3Ireland: 40.4 million tonnes of CO2Ireland40.4Denmark: 36.9 million tonnes of CO2Denmark36.9Slovakia: 35 million tonnes of CO2Slovakia35Croatia: 18.1 million tonnes of CO2Croatia18.1Estonia: 17.4 million tonnes of CO2Estonia17.4Slovenia: 14.5 million tonnes of CO2Slovenia14.5Lithuania: 13.1 million tonnes of CO2Lithuania13.1Luxembourg: 9.1 million tonnes of CO2Luxembourg9.1Cyprus: 7.3 million tonnes of CO2Cyprus7.3Latvia: 7.2 million tonnes of CO2Latvia7.2Malta: 1.4 million tonnes of CO2Malta1.4Germany: 798 million tonnes of CO2Germany798Italy: 358.1 million tonnes of CO2Italy358.1France: 335.5 million tonnes of CO2France335.5Poland: 323.3 million tonnes of CO2Poland323.3Spain: 259.6 million tonnes of CO2Spain259.6Netherlands: 164.8 million tonnes of CO2Netherlands164.8Czechia: 106.6 million tonnes of CO2Czechia106.6Belgium: 99.8 million tonnes of CO2Belgium99.8Romania: 76.6 million tonnes of CO2Romania76.6Greece: 71.4 million tonnes of CO2Greece71.4Austria: 67.2 million tonnes of CO2Austria67.2Portugal: 50.3 million tonnes of CO2Portugal50.3Finland: 47.3 million tonnes of CO2Finland47.3Hungary: 47 million tonnes of CO2Hungary47Bulgaria: 45.3 million tonnes of CO2Bulgaria45.3Sweden: 43.3 million tonnes of CO2Sweden43.3Ireland: 40.4 million tonnes of CO2Ireland40.4Denmark: 36.9 million tonnes of CO2Denmark36.9Slovakia: 35 million tonnes of CO2Slovakia35Croatia: 18.1 million tonnes of CO2Croatia18.1Estonia: 17.4 million tonnes of CO2Estonia17.4Slovenia: 14.5 million tonnes of CO2Slovenia14.5Lithuania: 13.1 million tonnes of CO2Lithuania13.1Luxembourg: 9.1 million tonnes of CO2Luxembourg9.1Cyprus: 7.3 million tonnes of CO2Cyprus7.3Latvia: 7.2 million tonnes of CO2Latvia7.2Malta: 1.4 million tonnes of CO2Malta1.4
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

RankEU countries2016
million tonnes of CO2		Change on 2015
1Germany798-0.4%
2Italy358.1-0.9%
3France335.5+1%
4Poland323.3+3.4%
5Spain259.6-4%
6Netherlands164.8+0.5%
7Czechia106.6+1.6%
8Belgium99.8-1.5%
9Romania76.6-1.9%
10Greece71.4-4.8%
11Austria67.2+1.3%
12Portugal50.3-3.7%
13Finland47.3+6.9%
14Hungary47+1%
15Bulgaria45.3-5.8%
16Sweden43.3-0%
17Ireland40.4+4.3%
18Denmark36.9+5.1%
19Slovakia35+1.3%
20Croatia18.1+1.6%
21Estonia17.4+10.5%
22Slovenia14.5+5.9%
23Lithuania13.1+0.4%
24Luxembourg9.1-2.8%
25Cyprus7.3+5.7%
26Latvia7.2-0.7%
27Malta1.4-18.9%

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.

More on how it is measured
  • 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 EU 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

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Global Carbon Project. (2025). Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2 (EU countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2016) [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, EU countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2016. Global Carbon Project, 22 Oct. 2025, https://zenodo.org/records/17417124. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/eu-countries?period=2016. 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. EU countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2016. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://zenodo.org/records/17417124. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/eu-countries?period=2016.

Harvard

Global Carbon Project (2025) Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2, EU countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://zenodo.org/records/17417124, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/eu-countries?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{global_eu_countries_by_fossil_2016,
  author = {{Global Carbon Project}},
  title = {{Global Carbon Project fossil CO2 emissions dataset: total fossil CO2 emissions, million tonnes of CO2: EU countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2016}},
  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/eu-countries?period=2016. 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: EU countries by fossil CO2 emissions, 2016
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/eu-countries?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/eu-countries?period=2016.
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 EU country has the highest fossil CO2 emissions?

Germany, with 798 million tonnes of CO2 in 2016, according to Global Carbon Project.

Which EU country has the lowest fossil CO2 emissions?

Malta, with 1.4 million tonnes of CO2 in 2016.

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: more rankings