The following is a list of major countries or territories ranked by their fossil CO2 emissions per square kilometer in the year of 2017 (in tonnes of CO2), based on the latest database released by Global Carbon Project on 5 December 2018. For each nation or territory, the value of total fossil CO2 emissions in the year (in million tonnes of CO2) is also presented. Those nations or territories with less than 50 tonnes of fossil CO2 emissions per square kilometer and those with a total of less than 10 million tonnes of fossil CO2 emissions are not included into the table. Globally, on average, the estimate of fossil CO2 emissions per square kilometer is 242.7 tonnes. In total, there are 87 nations or territories with the amount of fossil CO2 emissions per square kilometer above the average. It should be noted that the average value is not a value that meet the WHO’s standards for healthy quality of air.
Nation or Territory
| CO2 emissions per km2 (tonnes of CO2) | Total fossil CO2 emissions (million tonnes of CO2) |
1. Singapore | 89764.5 | 64.8 |
2. Bahrain | 44689.6 | 34.5 |
3. Hong Kong | 38978.8 | 43.0 |
4. Qatar | 11180.3 | 129.8 |
5. Trinidad and Tobago | 7933.2 | 40.7 |
6. Taiwan | 7502.1 | 271.5 |
7. South Korea | 6148.1 | 616.1 |
8. Kuwait | 5858.2 | 104.4 |
9. Netherlands | 3859.2 | 164.0 |
10. Belgium | 3279.5 | 100.1 |
11. Israel | 3204.3 | 66.6 |
12. Japan | 3189.4 | 1205.1 |
13. United Arab Emirates | 2796.5 | 231.8 |
14. Germany | 2239.0 | 799.4 |
15. Lebanon | 1879.5 | 19.5 |
16. Brunei Darussalam | 1772.4 | 10.2 |
17. United Kingdom | 1571.4 | 384.7 |
18. Czech Republic | 1368.1 | 107.9 |
19. Italy | 1180.0 | 355.5 |
20. Poland | 1044.5 | 326.6 |
21. China | 1025.2 | 9838.8 |
22. Switzerland | 970.6 | 40.1 |
23. Austria | 833.9 | 69.9 |
24. Denmark | 801.7 | 34.6 |
25. Malaysia | 772.0 | 254.6 |
26. India | 750.3 | 2466.8 |
27. Slovakia | 724.5 | 35.4 |
28. Slovenia | 720.6 | 14.6 |
29. France | 651.3 | 356.3 |
30. Bangladesh | 611.5 | 88.1 |
31. Viet Nam | 603.3 | 198.8 |
32. Portugal | 593.8 | 54.9 |
33. Greece | 576.0 | 76.0 |
34. Turkey | 573.8 | 447.9 |
35. Ireland | 565.4 | 39.7 |
36. Spain | 557.5 | 281.4 |
37. USA | 547.1 | 5269.5 |
38. Hungary | 541.2 | 50.3 |
39. Bosnia and Herzegovina | 521.2 | 26.6 |
40. Serbia | 510.3 | 45.1 |
41. North Korea | 481.3 | 58.0 |
42. Iraq | 444.9 | 194.5 |
43. Bulgaria | 442.4 | 49.1 |
44. Azerbaijan | 441.2 | 38.2 |
45. Estonia | 438.0 | 19.8 |
46. Dominican Republic | 436.5 | 21.3 |
47. Philippines | 425.4 | 127.6 |
48. Iran | 408.0 | 672.3 |
49. South Africa | 374.1 | 456.3 |
50. Sri Lanka | 352.7 | 23.1 |
51. Ukraine | 351.4 | 212.1 |
52. Thailand | 350.1 | 330.8 |
53. Romania | 336.8 | 80.0 |
54. Cuba | 329.3 | 36.5 |
55. Saudi Arabia | 323.9 | 635.0 |
56. Oman | 306.8 | 65.2 |
57. Croatia | 303.9 | 17.2 |
58. Belarus | 295.6 | 61.4 |
59. Indonesia | 253.6 | 486.8 |
60. Mexico | 248.6 | 490.3 |
61. Pakistan | 247.3 | 198.8 |
62. Jordan | 231.4 | 21.4 |
63. Uzbekistan | 221.3 | 99.0 |
64. Egypt | 218.3 | 218.7 |
65. Lithuania | 205.4 | 13.4 |
66. Guatemala | 191.7 | 20.9 |
67. Venezuela | 175.0 | 159.6 |
68. Tunisia | 172.0 | 28.1 |
69. Georgia | 157.1 | 11.0 |
70. Syria | 150.7 | 27.9 |
71. Turkmenistan | 148.9 | 72.7 |
72. Morocco | 140.5 | 62.7 |
73. Norway | 138.3 | 44.8 |
74. Ecuador | 136.8 | 38.8 |
75. Finland | 135.9 | 46.0 |
76. New Zealand | 134.0 | 36.0 |
77. Panama | 128.6 | 10.1 |
78. Nigeria | 116.2 | 107.3 |
79. Chile | 111.8 | 84.6 |
80. Kazakhstan | 107.7 | 292.6 |
81. Russian Federation | 99.1 | 1692.8 |
82. Honduras | 95.2 | 10.7 |
83. Sweden | 92.2 | 41.5 |
84. Argentina | 73.8 | 204.3 |
85. Colombia | 71.3 | 81.2 |
86. Ghana | 70.0 | 16.8 |
87. Algeria | 63.2 | 150.6 |
88. Canada | 57.4 | 572.8 |
89. Brazil | 55.9 | 476.1 |
90. Australia | 53.7 | 413.1 |
91. Kyrgyzstan | 52.6 | 10.4 |
92. Peru | 50.4 | 64.8 |
The Whole World | 242.7 | 36153.3 |
Note: Those nations or territories with less than 50 tonnes of fossil CO2 emissions per square kilometer and those with a total of less than 10 million tonnes of fossil CO2 emissions are not included.
For full information, please read the following post:
List of Countries by Fossil CO2 Emissions Per Square Mile in 2017
Looking at that report, the USA has 5269.5 has million tonnes of CO2 emissions. That’s the largest out of any country in the world and the next closest is India with 2466.8 which is less than half of the USA.
Look at China. It’s much higher than USA – 9838.8 million tonnes.
What is relevant when comparing different country’s emissions is each country’s emissions per sq km – ???????????? their total emissions. Yes, the US produces more CO2 than Singapore; but each sq km of Singapore (and their corresponding sovereign air space) generates 164 times more pollution that each sq km of the US.