GHG emissions of all world countries
Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continued their upward trajectory in 2024, reaching a record 53.2 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent, according to the latest EDGAR report. Despite decades of climate agreements, fossil CO₂ remains the dominant driver, accounting for nearly three-quarters of global emissions. The rise was fueled primarily by China, India, Russia, and Indonesia, while the EU27 stood out with a continued decline, cutting its emissions 35% below 1990 levels. The report underscores the persistent global challenge: with only two exceptions since 2000—the financial crisis of 2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020—global emissions have steadily increased, intensifying the pressure to accelerate climate action under the Paris Agreement.
Introduction
Since the beginning of 21st century, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions had followed an increasing trend mainly due to the increase in emissions from China and the other emerging economies. As a result, the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases substantially increased enhancing the natural greenhouse effect, which may negatively affect the life on the Earth.
According to the latest data, global GHG emissions in 2024 reached 53.2 Gt CO2eq (without Land Use, land Use Change and Forestry). The 2024 data experienced an increase of 1.3% or 665 Mt CO2eq compared to the levels in 2023. In the framework of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), countries are developing national emissions inventories and propose/implement actions to mitigate GHG emissions. Fossil CO2 emissions, which are the main contributors to global GHG emissions are still increasing at world level despite climate change mitigation agreements. In this context, EDGAR provides an independent estimate of greenhouse gases for all world countries, based on a robust and consistent methodology stemming from the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines and most recent activity data. Following the latest update released in September 2025, this report presents GHG emission time series up to 2024, including emissions from all anthropogenic sectors and Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF).
Main findings
China, the United States, India, the EU27, Russia and Indonesia were the world's largest GHG emitters in 2024. Together they account for 51.4% of global population, 62.5% of global gross domestic product, 64.2% of global fossil fuel consumption and 61.8% of global GHG emissions. Among these top emitters, in 2024 China, India, Russia and Indonesia increased their emissions compared to 2023, with Indonesia having the largest increase in relative terms (+ 5.0%) and India the largest absolute increase by 164.8 Mt CO2eq. With only two exceptions, 2009 (global financial crisis) and 2020 (COVID-19), global GHG emissions have grown steadily since the beginning of the 21st century, mainly due to the increase in fossil CO2 emissions by China, India, and other emerging economies. Based on the emission estimates for 2024 provided by EDGAR, global GHG emissions increased by 1.3% compared to 2023, reaching 53.2 Gt CO2eq.
In 2024, the majority of GHG emissions consisted of fossil CO2 accounting for 74.5% of total emissions, while CH4 contributed for 17.9% to the total, N2O for 4.8% and F-gases for 2.8%. Global fossil CO2 emissions increased by 74.9% since 1990. The increases in CH4 and N2O emissions have followed a somewhat slower pace: CH4 increased by nearly 30% and N2O by 34% between 1990 and 2024, while F-gases have seen a four-fold increase (+310%) in the same period. As far EU27 is concerned, its GHG emissions, excluding LULUCF, were approximately 35% lower than in 1990 reaching 3.2 Gt CO2eq. In 2024, EU27 emissions decreased by 1.8% (-57.9 Mt CO2eq) and the EU27’s share of global emissions decreased from 6.1% in 2023 to 5.9% in 2024.
In 2024, all the countries contributing with more than 1% to the EU27 GHG total emissions except Sweden, Greece, Belgium and Romania experienced a decrease in their emission levels compared to the previous year. In terms of contribution to the EU27's GHG emissions in 2024, Germany remained the largest emitter, followed by France, Italy, Poland and Spain.
In the EU27, all sectors, except transport and buildings, experienced a decrease in their GHG emissions in 2024 compared to 2023. The largest relative drop was observed in the power industry sector, in which emissions decreased by 8.5%. The fuel exploitation showed the second-highest decrease, falling by 1.9% below the 2023 levels.