Sovereign and dependent territory rows of OWID’s “Annual CO₂ emissions per country” dataset (top 30 by most recent year). Values in million tonnes CO₂ (two decimals). Aggregates excluded.
Chart ready. Press play to start.
How to use this chart
Play/Pause starts and stops the year-by-year animation, the year slider jumps to any year, and the speed selector (0.5×, 1×, 2×) changes playback speed. Each year shows the top 12 entries out of the 30 held in the dataset.
About this ranking
About this metric. “CO₂ Emissions by Country (Time Series)” reformats data published by Our World in Data (mostly re-published World Bank / UN public statistics) (OWID Grapher slug “annual-co2-emissions-per-country”). Values are expressed in million tonnes CO₂.
What to watch. The headline moment is China overtaking the United States in the mid-2000s, but keep an eye on India settling into third with a growth curve that echoes China’s twenty years earlier, while the UK and Germany quietly shrink.
Caveats. These are territorial (production-based) emissions from fossil fuels and cement: CO2 released abroad to manufacture a country’s imports is not counted. Countries hosting “the world’s factory” therefore look larger here than on a consumption basis.
Trends in the data
This series begins in 1750, and the left-hand edge holds a single country. The United Kingdom stands at 9.31 million tonnes in 1750, while the only other country covered, Australia, is at 0.00. Even in 1841 there are just eight countries with values: the United Kingdom at 81.33, France 13.82, Germany 9.55 and the United States 6.21. For nearly a century, the country where the industrial revolution began was the only one emitting in bulk.
The lead has changed twice. By 1933 the top three are the United States at 1,348.88, the United Kingdom at 412.27 and Germany at 364.98 — America already alone at the top. The United States in turn peaked at 6,126.90 million tonnes in 2005 and was passed by China in 2006. Its 4,904.12 million tonnes in 2024 is 20% below the peak, while China stands at 12,289.04 million tonnes, 37.2% of the 33,079 million emitted by these 30 countries.
The clearest decline in the table is Britain’s. From a peak of 660.40 million tonnes in 1971 it has fallen steadily to 312.91 million in 2024, 47% of the peak. The world’s only emitter in 1750 now ranks 18th. Australia, second in 1750 at 0.00, is 16th in 2024 — but its absolute emissions rose from 0 to 386.73 million tonnes, so only the rank fell.
One point on how to read this. These figures are production-based: they count what was burned inside a country’s borders, and exclude emissions generated abroad in making its imports. Countries that host “the world’s factory” look larger, and countries that moved manufacturing offshore look smaller. A substantial part of China’s 37.2% is embodied in goods made for other countries. Reading this alongside the per-capita emissions ranking changes the picture of responsibility again.
Trivia quiz
On which island is the observatory that has measured atmospheric CO2 since 1958, producing the famous "Keeling Curve"?
Hawaii (Mauna Loa). It is the best-known record of rising global CO2, named after Charles Keeling, who began the measurements. (Source)
Which international treaty, adopted in 2015, commits countries to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions?
The Paris Agreement, adopted at COP21, aiming to keep global warming well below 2°C and ideally to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. (Source)
What is the collective name for gases such as CO2 and methane that trap heat radiated from the Earth's surface?
Greenhouse gases (GHGs). CO2 is the most prominent, but methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases also count. (Source)