Of the 12 countries in this comparison, Australia and Canada are worst in CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas emissions, with the United States not far behind.

Greenhouse Gases

COLOR CODING
Green	Ranked first for statistic
Red	Ranked last for statistic

Printable Version

	CO2 Intensity
	1990	2000	2021	Total Mt CO2 Emissions, 2021	CO2 Emissions per capita, 2021	% Change 2000 to 2020/2021	GHG Emissions per capita, 2021
Australia	0.46	0.42	0.27	378.5	14.7	-11.65	20.54
Canada	0.47	0.43	0.31	528.9	13.8	-1.73	17.53
Denmark	0.25	0.19	0.08	28.5	4.9	-44.75	7.78
France	0.21	0.18	0.11	286.5	4.2	-22.98	6.20
Germany	0.40	0.29	0.18	622.0	7.5	-24.29	9.15
Italy	0.25	0.23	0.16	296.7	5.0	-31.11	7.07
Japan	0.30	0.29	0.23	1006.6	8.0	-14.32	9.31
Netherlands	0.32	0.25	0.16	135.8	7.8	-18.86	9.53
Norway	0.13	0.11	0.09	39.6	7.3	12.25	9.04
Sweden	0.18	0.14	0.06	33.6	3.2	-193.86	4.59
United Kingdom	0.31	0.23	0.11	333.5	4.9	-39.86	6.38
United States	0.49	0.42	0.22	4483.8	13.6	-17.77	19.10

SOURCES

CO₂ emissions (columns 1 – 5): International Energy Agency

CO₂ intensity (columns 1 – 3)
*CO₂ intensity measures the amount of CO₂ emitted per unit of GDP (kg CO₂/2015 USD).
Total Metric Tons (Mt) CO₂ emissions, 2021 (column 4)
Tons CO₂ emissions per capita, 2021 (column 5)

Percent change from 2000 to 2020/2021: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

Changes in CO₂ emissions, in percent: CO₂ net emissions/removals with LULUCF.

Greenhouse Gas emissions per capita: OECD

Total GHG excluding LULUCF per capita, thousands of kg. 2021.

NOTES

“We Have Released a Monster: Previously Frozen Soil Is ‘Breathing Out’ Greenhouse Gases” Dahr Jamail

December 28, 2016.
Climate feedback loop in which the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere causes the soil to warm up is allowing for soil respiration to release additional CO₂ and methane into the atmosphere.

Page updated on 9/23/2023.