Karandikars & Associates

CO2 Emissions excluding LULUCF (MT CO2)

(Source: World Bank)

This indicator is a measure of annual emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the six Kyoto greenhouse gases (GHG), from the agriculture, energy, waste, and industrial sectors, excluding LULUCF. The measure is standardized to carbon dioxide equivalent values using the Global Warming Potential (GWP) factors of IPCC's 5th Assessment Report (AR5)

Table below captures country wise trend in CO2 emissions, excluding LULUCF

For the year 2023, world CO2 emissions excluding LULUCF were 39,023.9 million tonnes CO2. Given that world's total GHG emissions excluding LULUCF were 52,962.9 million tonnes CO2e, the CO2 emissions accounted for 73.7% of total GHG emissions

For the same year, India's CO2 emissions excluding LULUCF were 2,955.2 million tonnes CO2. Given that India's total GHG emissions excluding LULUCF were 4,133.6, million tonnes CO2e, the CO2 emissions accounted for 71.5% of total GHG emissions

For the same year, China's CO2 emissions excluding LULUCF were 13,259.6 million tonnes CO2. Given that China's total GHG emissions excluding LULUCF were 15,944 million tonnes CO2e, the CO2 emissions accounted for 83.2% of total GHG emissions

For the same year,, US' CO2 emissions excluding LULUCF were 4,682.0 million tonnes CO2. Given that US' total GHG emissions excluding LULUCF were 5,960.8 million tonnes CO2e, the CO2 emissions accounted for 78.5% of total GHG emissions

View the trends graphically

Our World in Data: Cumulative CO2 emissions provides a very interesting data on cumulative CO2 emissions: running sum of CO₂ emissions produced from fossil fuels and industry since the first year of recording, measured in tonnes. Land-use change emissions are not included

As per the cited data, cumulative global emissions from 1750 to 2024 amount to approximately 1,850 billion tonnes. Over the historical periods from first year of recording, cumulative emissions are estimated at about 66 billion tonnes for India (1858–2024), 285 billion tonnes for China (1907–2024), and 435 billion tonnes for the United States (1800–2024)

When we aggregate the data presented in our table above—covering the uniform period from 1970 onwards—we obtain cumulative emissions of approximately 1,424 billion tonnes for the world, 59 billion tonnes for India, 278 billion tonnes for China, and 276 billion tonnes for the United States. These estimates are broadly in line with the earlier figures, with the differences primarily reflecting the variation in the time spans covered

Accordingly, we have applied the same cumulative methodology to all other emissions indicators that we have covered, to provide a deeper understanding beyond single-year (2024) emissions figures

For the single year 2023, India's emissions were 7.6% of the world, that of China were 34% while that of US were 12% of world CO2 emissions. The latest single-year emissions data provides an important, but not a complete snapshot. Given the long atmospheric lifetime of greenhouse gases, cumulative emissions offer a more meaningful measure of long-term climate impact

Thus, for 1970-2022, cumulative CO2 emissions of India were 4.1% of the world, that of China were 19.5% and US’ cumulative emissions were 19.4% of the world CO2 emissions