Emissions

CO₂ from fossil fuels and industry, shown two ways. Per capita reveals the carbon intensity of a country's economy and lifestyle — it's the fairness lens. Absolute shows a country's total contribution to the atmosphere — it's the physical impact lens. A country can look responsible on one and not the other; both matter.

The default selection (USA, China, India, Germany, Brazil) illustrates the tension: the US and Germany lead on per-capita cuts, while China and India show rapidly rising absolute totals despite low per-person numbers.

Per capita vs. absolute — side by side

The two lenses on the same data. Slide the year range above to zoom into any era.

Most wealthy nations peaked per-capita in the 1970s–80s as energy efficiency improved and heavy industry declined. The steepest absolute falls since 2000 are largely from coal-to-gas switching and renewables growth. China's rise from near-zero to the world's largest absolute emitter happened almost entirely between 1990 and 2010.

Snapshot — most recent year

Where each selected country stands today, ranked by per-capita emissions.

All countries ranked

Source: Global Carbon Project via Our World in Data. Covers CO₂ from fossil fuels and industry only — land-use change emissions are excluded.