EU countries by methane emissions
France had the highest methane emissions of 27 EU countries in 2018, at 2,514 thousand tonnes of methane. Malta had the lowest, at 8 thousand tonnes of methane. The median was 318.5 thousand tonnes of methane. Source: the European Commission, Joint Research Centre.
Map of EU countries, 2018
- Under 120
- 120 to 300
- 300 to 400
- 400 to 690
- 690 and over
All EU countries, 2018
Full ranking
| Rank | EU countries | 2018 | Change on 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 2,514 | -1.2% |
| 2 | Germany | 2,206 | -2.4% |
| 3 | Poland | 1,750.8 | +0.9% |
| 4 | Italy | 1,721.2 | +1% |
| 5 | Spain | 1,629.1 | +0.4% |
| 6 | Netherlands | 695.2 | -5.6% |
| 7 | Romania | 672 | -1.7% |
| 8 | Ireland | 646.6 | -9.2% |
| 9 | Czechia | 492.8 | -2.2% |
| 10 | Belgium | 443 | +0.3% |
| 11 | Greece | 407.7 | -2.1% |
| 12 | Portugal | 395.4 | +0.2% |
| 13 | Hungary | 386.9 | -0.4% |
| 14 | Sweden | 318.5 | -2.1% |
| 15 | Denmark | 303.6 | +0.3% |
| 16 | Austria | 298.3 | -2.6% |
| 17 | Bulgaria | 294.7 | -3% |
| 18 | Finland | 250 | -0.6% |
| 19 | Slovakia | 195.4 | -1.6% |
| 20 | Croatia | 153.6 | -4% |
| 21 | Lithuania | 138.6 | -6.3% |
| 22 | Slovenia | 117.4 | -3.9% |
| 23 | Estonia | 100.8 | +2.4% |
| 24 | Latvia | 74.9 | -2.5% |
| 25 | Cyprus | 39.1 | +1.8% |
| 26 | Luxembourg | 24.1 | -2.3% |
| 27 | Malta | 8 | +0.2% |
Other periods
About this ranking
Methane (CH4) emitted in the year, in thousand tonnes of methane, from agriculture (livestock, manure, rice), fossil fuel production and distribution, waste and wastewater, fuel combustion and industry, as estimated by EDGAR.
More on how it is measured
- EDGAR estimates every country with the same IPCC methods and international activity statistics, so countries can be compared, but the values differ from the inventories countries report themselves.
- Emissions from land use, land use change and forestry and from large scale biomass burning (savannah and forest fires) are not included.
- The latest two years are fast track estimates from proxy statistics, replaced in later releases, and are marked provisional.
Tonnes of the gas itself, not CO2 equivalent: EDGAR weights a tonne of methane as 28 tonnes of CO2 (30 for fossil methane) over 100 years (IPCC AR5). EDGAR counts Andorra with Spain, Monaco with France, San Marino and the Holy See with Italy, and Liechtenstein with Switzerland. It reports Israel and Palestine, Sudan and South Sudan, and Serbia and Montenegro together, so those countries have no value here. Each 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
EDGAR (Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research) Community GHG Database, European Commission, Joint Research Centre. EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane. https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EDGAR/datasets/EDGAR_2026_GHG/. Retrieved 2026-10-12. © European Union, licensed under CC BY 4.0.Citation styles
APA 7
European Commission, Joint Research Centre. (2026). EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane (EU countries by methane emissions, 2018) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EDGAR/datasets/EDGAR_2026_GHG/
MLA 9
EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane, EU countries by methane emissions, 2018. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 18 Sept. 2026, https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EDGAR/datasets/EDGAR_2026_GHG/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/methane-emissions/eu-countries?period=2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
European Commission, Joint Research Centre. 2026. EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane. EU countries by methane emissions, 2018. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EDGAR/datasets/EDGAR_2026_GHG/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/methane-emissions/eu-countries?period=2018.
Harvard
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (2026) EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane, EU countries by methane emissions, 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EDGAR/datasets/EDGAR_2026_GHG/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/methane-emissions/eu-countries?period=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{european_eu_countries_by_methane_2018,
author = {{European Commission, Joint Research Centre}},
title = {{EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane: EU countries by methane emissions, 2018}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Data set},
url = {https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EDGAR/datasets/EDGAR_2026_GHG/},
urldate = {2026-10-12},
note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/methane-emissions/eu-countries?period=2018. Publisher attribution: EDGAR (Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research) Community GHG Database, European Commission, Joint Research Centre. EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane. https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EDGAR/datasets/EDGAR\_2026\_GHG/. Retrieved 2026-10-12. © European Union, licensed under CC BY 4.0.},
}
RIS
TY - DATA
AU - European Commission, Joint Research Centre
TI - EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane: EU countries by methane emissions, 2018
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - European Commission, Joint Research Centre
DB - Invokely
UR - https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EDGAR/datasets/EDGAR_2026_GHG/
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/methane-emissions/eu-countries?period=2018
Y2 - 2026/10/12
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/methane-emissions/eu-countries?period=2018.
N1 - Publisher attribution: EDGAR (Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research) Community GHG Database, European Commission, Joint Research Centre. EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane. https://jeodpp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ftp/jrc-opendata/EDGAR/datasets/EDGAR_2026_GHG/. Retrieved 2026-10-12. © European Union, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
ER -
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:
Rank EU countries by methane emissions using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"methane_emissions","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=methane_emissions&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10Questions
Which EU country has the highest methane emissions?
France, with 2,514 thousand tonnes of methane in 2018, according to the European Commission, Joint Research Centre.
Which EU country has the lowest methane emissions?
Malta, with 8 thousand tonnes of methane in 2018.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, EDGAR CH4 emissions by country, thousand tonnes (Gg) of methane. Retrieved 2026-10-12.