Top 50 Countries by Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Barrie | May 1st, 2007 | No Comments

Following is a ranking of the top 50 national emitters of greenhouse gases in 2000, showing huge gaps in the world picture of emissions in recent years. Countries facing emissions caps under the Kyoto Protcool, plus several others such as the United States, have posted emissions reports for 2004 to the U.N. climate change body over the past few months.

But big developing countries such as China and India do not face any obligations under Kyoto and the latest widely available estimates of their emissions comes from the World Resources Institute for 2000, Reuters reported.

Kyoto ratifier Russia has not updated its U.N. data since 1999. A summary of latest available data for the top 50 emitters are shown below in millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Country 1990 2000 2004 1990 vs 2000

(Pct change)
1 USA 6,033 6,928 7,074 +15
2 China 3,750 4,938 N.A +32
3 Russia 3,047 1,952 N.A -36
4 India 1,339 1,884 N.A +41
5 Japan 1,205 1,317 1,355 +9
6 Germany 1,199 1,009 1,015 -16
7 Brazil 686 851 N.A +24
8 Canada 565 680 758 +20
9 UK 727 654 659 -10
10 Italy 499 531 583 +7
11 South Korea 291 521 N.A +79
12 France 546 513 563 -6
13 Mexico 432 512 N.A +19
14 Indonesia 353 503 N.A +42
15 Australia 408 491 534 +20
16 Ukraine 926 482 381 -48
17 South Africa 356 417 N.A +17
18 Iran 288 480 N.A +67
19 Spain 289 381 428 +32
20 Poland 461 381 386 -18
21 Turkey 272 355 357 +31
22 Saudi Arabia 204 341 N.A +67
23 Argentina 249 289 N.A +16
24 Pakistan 206 285 N.A +38
25 Thailand 176 265 N.A +51
26 Venezuela 199 240 N.A +20
27 Taiwan 129 230 N.A +79
28 Netherlands 210 215 219 +2
29 Nigeria 164 194 N.A +18
30 Uzbekistan 163 180 N.A +10
31 Egypt 127 178 N.A +39
32 Malaysia 92 166 N.A +80
33 Kazakhstan 329 161 N.A -51
34 Colombia 130 160 N.A +23
35 Belgium 134 148 148 +11
36 Czech R 182 143 147 -21
37 Vietnam 82 134 N.A +64
38 Philippines 91 133 N.A +46
39 Algeria 104 126 N.A +22
40 Romania 244 125 155 -49
41 Bangladesh 91 122 N.A +35
42 Greece 100 120 138 +20
43 UAE 67 117 N.A +75
44 Nth Korea 169 112 N.A -34
45 Iraq 88 101 N.A +14
46 Sudan 85 96 N.A +14
47 Myanmar 63 83 N.A +31
48 Austria 77 80 91 +4
49 Portugal 57 79 85 +38
50 Belarus 144 79 75 -45

Sources — 2004 data - UNFCCC

1990 and 2000 data - WRI.