Carbon Emissions Comparison

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Last updated: Monday June 28th, 2021

Since 1970, American carbon dioxide emissions have remained relatively flat, European emissions have fallen, but Chinese emissions have grown dramatically. Today, Chinese is responsible for more carbon emissions than the United States and European Union combined.

Source

EU includes all countries ever part of the European Union, including the UK

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Year	China	United States	EU	India
1970	906.56	4685.43	4200.74	232.81
1971	910.4	4550.81	4205.39	233.9
1972	971.53	4799.58	4327.96	243.26
1973	1012.16	4987.25	4547.84	241.66
1974	1030.07	4822.62	4448.53	259.55
1975	1180.99	4608.95	4338.27	277.1
1976	1228.34	4903.64	4595.54	296.38
1977	1381.12	5067.79	4590.25	301.71
1978	1558.17	5062.24	4726.85	269.27
1979	1596.71	5100.61	4909.5	289.68
1980	1563.29	4874.23	4765.01	301.83
1981	1549.67	4805.68	4568.3	332.11
1982	1620.46	4560	4453.61	352.76
1983	1706.19	4539.53	4421.87	375.61
1984	1860.78	4749.36	4434.72	411.18
1985	1876.21	4775.4	4476.76	429.79
1986	1981.99	4734.69	4497.64	467.45
1987	2121.68	4892.11	4545.26	500.65
1988	2283.18	5115.3	4539.89	530.79
1989	2362.31	5172.67	4538.51	568.4
1990	2404.74	5065.06	4408.73	599.82
1991	2540.05	5023.49	4359.45	645.64
1992	2673.1	5104.85	4203.72	668.44
1993	2896.85	5223.92	4120.56	698.52
1994	3077.91	5307.15	4105.21	743.14
1995	3392.35	5358.97	4153.48	798.35
1996	3376.89	5506.46	4265.64	835.14
1997	3435.87	5680.48	4172.81	876.87
1998	3514.53	5694.6	4164.11	891.88
1999	3447.07	5713.87	4099.96	960.39
2000	3682.48	5917.36	4121.42	993.97
2001	3856.55	5860.05	4186.29	1010.29
2002	4160.95	5780.61	4161.2	1049.16
2003	4826.43	5856.48	4267.97	1075.07
2004	5570.36	5939.36	4273.34	1164.98
2005	6273.36	5948.47	4249.14	1219.35
2006	6974.88	5843.16	4265.9	1299.5
2007	7649.9	5931.99	4219.11	1411.22
2008	7817.79	5742.93	4122.6	1498.8
2009	8378.21	5325.08	3793.12	1673.47
2010	9160.79	5567.64	3920.61	1761.4
2011	10037.25	5438.92	3766.2	1858.61
2012	10271.43	5263.64	3722.01	2000.84
2013	10532.51	5337.03	3631.03	2068.6
2014	10653.92	5412.96	3450.09	2235.92
2015	10671.34	5248.96	3492.46	2292.96
2016	10691.81	5152.58	3474.59	2321.8
2017	10911.22	5082.89	3487.89	2425.42
2018	11157.07	5243.74	3434.6	2556.55
2019	11535.2	5107.26	3303.97	2597.36

+17

Level ∞

Jul 4, 2018

Of course, China still uses much less carbon dioxide per capita than the United States. Furthermore, much of their output is the result of producing goods that are sold elsewhere. There is also cause for hope. Chinese emissions may be near their peak and could decrease due to the rapid growth in solar energy.

Level 86

Jul 5, 2018

Looks like India could be poised to pick up the slack, though :(

Level 60

Nov 17, 2020

Perhaps not. We are going forward rapidly with a lot of renewable energy sources including some of the largest Solar Power plants in the world

Bhadla Solar Park

Solar Power in India

Level ∞

Feb 25, 2021

2021 Update: The recent numbers for China are very bad indeed. So much for those solar dreams...

Level 65

Feb 26, 2021

Thanks for updating this QM! I always enjoy the JetPunk graphs that are easy to extract information from. Maybe in a future update include South America and Africa, just to get an understandable comparison? I'm not rushing, just making suggestions.

Level 71

Feb 26, 2021

What about their plan to go carbon neutral by 2060? Have they made any progress on that, or do you at least think they can achieve it? Or is it just a pipe dream?

Level ∞

Jun 28, 2021

China will have pumped so much carbon into the atmosphere by then it doesn't matter. We need to go carbon negative not neutral.

Relevant blog post.

+10

Level 40

Jul 6, 2018

I do not believe India will emit more carbon dioxide. We are proactively trying to reduce emissions in our most polluted cities.

Level ∞

Oct 18, 2018

That's a comforting thought, but I don't think the trends justify this belief.

Level 56

Feb 27, 2020

Yeah, you are right. In our nation, with a huge population, there is a huge need. Numbers of industries are increasing day by day. Even I live in one of the most polluted cities on Earth, Delhi. I am worried that India might see a rapid increase in CO2 emission as China saw from the beginning of 21st century.

Level 51

Apr 20, 2021

Yes, I agree too. Such a huge population, greatly outpacing the supplies of energy in India. Coal and Oil will probably boom in the coming years, as an easier and inexpensive way to get energy.

Level 60

Nov 17, 2020

I also believe that India will not be producing more CO₂ than China, might be not even the US. We have the world's largest Solar Park by power output and our PM have also proposed the International Solar Alliance

Solar Power in India

Level 68

Nov 17, 2020

Xi: "China will try to have carbon neutrality in five years."

Graphs: Yea Right!