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 2017, at 784.6 million tonnes of CO2. Malta had the lowest, at 1.5 million tonnes of CO2. The median was 47.4 million tonnes of CO2. Source: Global Carbon Project.

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Highest784.6Germany
Lowest1.5Malta
Median47.427 EU countries

Map of EU countries, 2017

Austria: 69.6 million tonnes of CO2Belgium: 99.3 million tonnes of CO2Bulgaria: 47.4 million tonnes of CO2Cyprus: 7.5 million tonnes of CO2Czechia: 107.7 million tonnes of CO2Germany: 784.6 million tonnes of CO2Denmark: 34.7 million tonnes of CO2Estonia: 18.6 million tonnes of CO2Spain: 273.5 million tonnes of CO2Finland: 44.7 million tonnes of CO2France: 338.4 million tonnes of CO2Greece: 74.8 million tonnes of CO2Croatia: 18.7 million tonnes of CO2Hungary: 49.4 million tonnes of CO2Ireland: 39 million tonnes of CO2Italy: 352.7 million tonnes of CO2Lithuania: 13.3 million tonnes of CO2Luxembourg: 9.3 million tonnes of CO2Latvia: 7.2 million tonnes of CO2Malta: 1.5 million tonnes of CO2Netherlands: 162.3 million tonnes of CO2Poland: 336.5 million tonnes of CO2Portugal: 55.2 million tonnes of CO2Romania: 79.4 million tonnes of CO2Sweden: 42.4 million tonnes of CO2Slovenia: 14.6 million tonnes of CO2Slovakia: 36.2 million tonnes of CO2
  • Under 15
  • 15 to 40
  • 40 to 64
  • 64 to 150
  • 150 and over
million tonnes of CO2, 2017. 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, 2017

Germany: 784.6 million tonnes of CO2Germany784.6Italy: 352.7 million tonnes of CO2Italy352.7France: 338.4 million tonnes of CO2France338.4Poland: 336.5 million tonnes of CO2Poland336.5Spain: 273.5 million tonnes of CO2Spain273.5Netherlands: 162.3 million tonnes of CO2Netherlands162.3Czechia: 107.7 million tonnes of CO2Czechia107.7Belgium: 99.3 million tonnes of CO2Belgium99.3Romania: 79.4 million tonnes of CO2Romania79.4Greece: 74.8 million tonnes of CO2Greece74.8Austria: 69.6 million tonnes of CO2Austria69.6Portugal: 55.2 million tonnes of CO2Portugal55.2Hungary: 49.4 million tonnes of CO2Hungary49.4Bulgaria: 47.4 million tonnes of CO2Bulgaria47.4Finland: 44.7 million tonnes of CO2Finland44.7Sweden: 42.4 million tonnes of CO2Sweden42.4Ireland: 39 million tonnes of CO2Ireland39Slovakia: 36.2 million tonnes of CO2Slovakia36.2Denmark: 34.7 million tonnes of CO2Denmark34.7Croatia: 18.7 million tonnes of CO2Croatia18.7Estonia: 18.6 million tonnes of CO2Estonia18.6Slovenia: 14.6 million tonnes of CO2Slovenia14.6Lithuania: 13.3 million tonnes of CO2Lithuania13.3Luxembourg: 9.3 million tonnes of CO2Luxembourg9.3Cyprus: 7.5 million tonnes of CO2Cyprus7.5Latvia: 7.2 million tonnes of CO2Latvia7.2Malta: 1.5 million tonnes of CO2Malta1.5Germany: 784.6 million tonnes of CO2Germany784.6Italy: 352.7 million tonnes of CO2Italy352.7France: 338.4 million tonnes of CO2France338.4Poland: 336.5 million tonnes of CO2Poland336.5Spain: 273.5 million tonnes of CO2Spain273.5Netherlands: 162.3 million tonnes of CO2Netherlands162.3Czechia: 107.7 million tonnes of CO2Czechia107.7Belgium: 99.3 million tonnes of CO2Belgium99.3Romania: 79.4 million tonnes of CO2Romania79.4Greece: 74.8 million tonnes of CO2Greece74.8Austria: 69.6 million tonnes of CO2Austria69.6Portugal: 55.2 million tonnes of CO2Portugal55.2Hungary: 49.4 million tonnes of CO2Hungary49.4Bulgaria: 47.4 million tonnes of CO2Bulgaria47.4Finland: 44.7 million tonnes of CO2Finland44.7Sweden: 42.4 million tonnes of CO2Sweden42.4Ireland: 39 million tonnes of CO2Ireland39Slovakia: 36.2 million tonnes of CO2Slovakia36.2Denmark: 34.7 million tonnes of CO2Denmark34.7Croatia: 18.7 million tonnes of CO2Croatia18.7Estonia: 18.6 million tonnes of CO2Estonia18.6Slovenia: 14.6 million tonnes of CO2Slovenia14.6Lithuania: 13.3 million tonnes of CO2Lithuania13.3Luxembourg: 9.3 million tonnes of CO2Luxembourg9.3Cyprus: 7.5 million tonnes of CO2Cyprus7.5Latvia: 7.2 million tonnes of CO2Latvia7.2Malta: 1.5 million tonnes of CO2Malta1.5
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 countries2017
million tonnes of CO2		Change on 2016
1Germany784.6-1.7%
2Italy352.7-1.5%
3France338.4+0.9%
4Poland336.5+4.1%
5Spain273.5+5.4%
6Netherlands162.3-1.5%
7Czechia107.7+1%
8Belgium99.3-0.5%
9Romania79.4+3.7%
10Greece74.8+4.9%
11Austria69.6+3.5%
12Portugal55.2+9.6%
13Hungary49.4+5.1%
14Bulgaria47.4+4.6%
15Finland44.7-5.5%
16Sweden42.4-2.2%
17Ireland39-3.3%
18Slovakia36.2+3.4%
19Denmark34.7-6.1%
20Croatia18.7+3.5%
21Estonia18.6+6.8%
22Slovenia14.6+1.2%
23Lithuania13.3+1.3%
24Luxembourg9.3+1.9%
25Cyprus7.5+1.6%
26Latvia7.2+0.1%
27Malta1.5+11.7%

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, 2017) [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, 2017. Global Carbon Project, 22 Oct. 2025, https://zenodo.org/records/17417124. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/eu-countries?period=2017. 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, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://zenodo.org/records/17417124. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/eu-countries?period=2017.

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, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://zenodo.org/records/17417124, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/eu-countries?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{global_eu_countries_by_fossil_2017,
  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, 2017}},
  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=2017. 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, 2017
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=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fossil-co2-emissions/eu-countries?period=2017.
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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Rank EU countries by fossil CO2 emissions using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which EU country has the highest fossil CO2 emissions?

Germany, with 784.6 million tonnes of CO2 in 2017, according to Global Carbon Project.

Which EU country has the lowest fossil CO2 emissions?

Malta, with 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 in 2017.

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