CO2 emissions from fossil-fuels, total (thousand metric tons) by country
Fossil fuel is any hydrocarbon deposit that can be burned for heat or power, such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas. This is the sum total of all fossil fuel emissions (solid fuel consumption, liquid fuel consumption, gas fuel consumption, cement production and gas flaring). The U.S. Department of Energy’s carbon...
What the numbers show
CO2 emissions from fossil-fuels, total (thousand metric tons) is currently reported for 51 countries. The highest value is 499,016 thousand metric tons in South Africa; the lowest is 124.68 thousand metric tons in Comoros.
The median across all reporting countries is 1,984 thousand metric tons, and the mean is 23,420 thousand metric tons.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 4,002.
Over the past decade 43 countries rose and 8 fell. The largest increase was in Equatorial Guinea (up 917.8%), and the largest decrease in Zimbabwe (down 43.7%).
CO2 emissions from fossil-fuels, total: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Africa | 499,016 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 34.5% | rising |
| 2 | Egypt, Arab Rep. | 216,137 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 72.4% | volatile |
| 3 | Algeria | 121,312 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 31.7% | volatile |
| 4 | Nigeria | 70,234 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 56.8% | volatile |
| 5 | Libya | 62,874 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 40.9% | volatile |
| 6 | Morocco | 48,815 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 47.2% | volatile |
| 7 | Angola | 26,655 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 191.1% | volatile |
| 8 | Tunisia | 25,156 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 37.2% | volatile |
| 9 | Sudan | 14,338 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 181.5% | volatile |
| 10 | Kenya | 12,350 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 21.4% | rising |
| 11 | Zimbabwe | 8,914 thousand metric tons | 2009 | down 43.7% | rising |
| 12 | Ethiopia | 7,888 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 55.4% | volatile |
| 13 | Ghana | 7,444 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 13.7% | volatile |
| 14 | Tanzania | 6,960 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 174.3% | volatile |
| 15 | Cote d'Ivoire | 6,597 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 5.3% | rising |
| 16 | Benin | 4,855 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 210.8% | volatile |
| 17 | Equatorial Guinea | 4,815 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 917.8% | volatile |
| 18 | Senegal | 4,576 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 23.7% | volatile |
| 19 | Botswana | 4,430 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 24.9% | volatile |
| 20 | Mauritius | 3,825 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 55.0% | volatile |
| 21 | Namibia | 3,586 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 102.5% | volatile |
| 22 | Uganda | 3,480 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 147.1% | volatile |
| 23 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | 2,695 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 19.9% | falling |
| 24 | Mozambique | 2,600 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 118.8% | falling |
| 25 | Mauritania | 2,076 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 73.1% | volatile |
| 26 | Zambia | 1,984 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 9.7% | falling |
| 27 | Congo, Rep. | 1,944 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 136.6% | volatile |
| 28 | Madagascar | 1,822 thousand metric tons | 2009 | down 5.3% | rising |
| 29 | Burkina Faso | 1,668 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 79.1% | volatile |
| 30 | Gabon | 1,624 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 13.0% | volatile |
| 31 | Togo | 1,485 thousand metric tons | 2009 | down 3.3% | volatile |
| 32 | Sierra Leone | 1,415 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 382.5% | volatile |
| 33 | Guinea | 1,228 thousand metric tons | 2009 | down 3.5% | rising |
| 34 | Niger | 1,159 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 9.3% | volatile |
| 35 | Malawi | 1,060 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 6.2% | rising |
| 36 | Eswatini | 1,023 thousand metric tons | 2009 | down 17.5% | volatile |
| 37 | Seychelles | 737.07 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 43.6% | volatile |
| 38 | Rwanda | 726.07 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 8.2% | volatile |
| 39 | Mali | 612.39 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 13.6% | rising |
| 40 | Somalia, Fed. Rep. | 594.05 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 14.9% | volatile |
| 41 | Djibouti | 531.72 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 19.8% | rising |
| 42 | Liberia | 524.38 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 28.8% | volatile |
| 43 | Eritrea | 513.38 thousand metric tons | 2009 | down 17.2% | rising |
| 44 | Gambia, The | 436.37 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 70.0% | volatile |
| 45 | Chad | 414.37 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 242.4% | volatile |
| 46 | Cabo Verde | 315.36 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 83.0% | volatile |
| 47 | Guinea-Bissau | 293.36 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 19.4% | volatile |
| 48 | Central African Republic | 234.69 thousand metric tons | 2009 | down 11.1% | rising |
| 49 | Burundi | 190.68 thousand metric tons | 2009 | down 35.0% | volatile |
| 50 | Sao Tome and Principe | 128.34 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 45.8% | volatile |
| 51 | Comoros | 124.68 thousand metric tons | 2009 | up 54.5% | volatile |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Africa 1.22 million thousand metric tons
- Sub-Saharan Africa 742,674 thousand metric tons
- Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) 737,729 thousand metric tons
- North Africa 474,825 thousand metric tons
- Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa 232,998 thousand metric tons
- Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa and Nigeria 160,809 thousand metric tons
About this data
Fossil fuel is any hydrocarbon deposit that can be burned for heat or power, such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas. This is the sum total of all fossil fuel emissions (solid fuel consumption, liquid fuel consumption, gas fuel consumption, cement production and gas flaring). The U.S. Department of Energy’s carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) calculates annual anthropogenic emissions from data on fossil fuel consumption (from the United Nations Statistics Division’s World Energy Data Set) and world cement manufacturing (from the U.S. Bureau of Mine’s Cement Manufacturing Data Set). Carbon dioxide emissions, often calculated and reported as elemental carbon, were converted to actual carbon dioxide mass by multiplying them by 3.664 (the ratio of the mass of carbon to that of carbon dioxide). Although estimates of global carbon dioxide emissions are probably accurate within 10 percent (as calculated from global average file chemistry and use), country estimates may have larger error bounds. Trends estimated from a consistent time series tend to be more accurate than individual values. Each year the CDIAC recalculates the entire time series since 1949, incorporating recent findings and corrections. Estimates exclude fuels supplied to ships and aircraft in international transport because of the difficulty of apportioning he fuels among benefitting countries. The ratio of carbon dioxide per unit of energy shows carbon intensity, which is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted as a result of using one unit of energy in the process of production.