Climate Killer Carbon Dioxide

Overview

About 70­% of global carbon dioxide emissions are caused by just 10 countries. Of these, China is the leader with over 30 %. It is followed by the USA with over 13 %. Despite all its efforts, Germany is still in the top 10 in the hit list of climate sinners.

Both the number of inhabitants and per capita emissions play a role in a country's total emissions. For example, one person in the USA produces around twice as much carbon dioxide as one person in Germany and almost seven times as much as one person in India. This also puts China's enormous emissions into perspective: due to its large population, its emissions of 7.9 tons per capita correspond to those of other industrialized countries such as Japan (8.0 t/capita) or Germany (7.0 t/capita) - and that despite the high proportion of export goods that appear in the Chinese emissions balance sheet.

Global carbon dioxide emissions and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are increasing continuously. Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions have more than doubled since 1970 and have even increased more than seventeenfold since the beginning of the last century. Energy-related emissions account for 87 % of total emissions. This shows that the energy transition is a key component in reducing CO2 emissions. It is good that the share of renewable energies is increasing faster than energy demand worldwide.

Between 2013 and 2016, emissions hardly rose at all. This offers some hope that a stabilisation and then a reversal of the trend can be achieved. Emissions actually fell in 2020, although this was due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, this trend was short-lived: it was followed by further record emissions from 2022 to 2025.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen from around 290 ppm in 1860 to over 426 ppm in 2025. A level of 450 ppm is widely regarded as the upper limit that should, if possible, not be exceeded.

Germany has already used up its emissions budget – which would make the 1.5-degree target achievable – in the year 2024.

The top 10 countries with the highest emissions are together responsible for 70 % of global emissions.

Countries with the highest energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2025 with per capita emissions

The absolute CO₂ emissions of the ten largest emitters, as well as their per capita CO₂ emissions. The countries with the highest per capita emissions worldwide are not shown. Qatar and Singapore have over 40 tonnes per capita, whilst the UAE and Kuwait have over 20 tonnes per capita.

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Development of yearly CO₂ emissions from different countries and total world from 1965 to 2025

Global energy-related CO₂ emissions since 1965. The chart shows the five largest CO₂ emitters in 2025, as well as Germany.

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Development of yearly global CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion and CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere since 1860

Anthropogenic CO₂ emissions from the energy sector (in red) have contributed to an increase in global CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere (in blue) since 1860. With a few exceptions, annual emissions continue to rise.

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