Environment

Visualizing Global Per Capita CO2 Emissions

Published

2 years ago

December 1, 2021

Anshool Deshmukh

Graphics/Design:

Miranda Smith

Per Capita CO2 Emissions by Country

Can I share this graphic?
Yes. Visualizations are free to share and post in their original form across the web—even for publishers. Please link back to this page and attribute Visual Capitalist.

When do I need a license?
Licenses are required for some commercial uses, translations, or layout modifications. You can even whitelabel our visualizations. Explore your options.

Interested in this piece?
Click here to license this visualization.

Highest Per Capita CO₂ Emissions

Developing countries like China, India, and Russia are some of the highest producers of CO₂ worldwide and will be so for a while. But the situation is far from straightforward—and looking at CO₂ emissions per capita can add nuance to the overall story.

Based on data presented by the Aqal Group and the IEA, here we visualize the countries and regions with the highest per capita carbon emissions from around the world.

Let’s dive into the highest per capita carbon emitters and how they are trying to reduce their carbon contributions.

Leaders in Per Capita CO₂ Emissions

Oil-producing countries in the Middle East are the highest emitters of CO₂ on a per capita basis, but developed countries like the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada also have some of the higher rates of per capita emissions.

Rank	Country or Region	Carbon Emissions Per Capita (t/year)
#1	Middle East A*	19.5
#2	Canada	15.2
#3	Saudi Arabia	14.5
#4	United States	14.4
#5	Australia & New Zealand	13.6
#6	Russia	11.4
#7	South Korea	11.3
#8	Kazakhstan & Turkmenistan	11.2
#9	Taiwan	10.8
#10	Japan	8.4
	Global Average	4.4

*Middle East A group includes Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates

Canada and the United States have per capita carbon footprints of 15.2 and 14.4 tonnes per year, respectively. Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand combine for an average per capita footprint of over 13.6 tonnes per year.

It’s worth noting that all of these numbers are more than three times higher than the global average, which in 2019 was 4.4 tonnes per person.

Energy Sources and Per Capita CO₂ Emissions

Since there is a strong relationship between wealth and per capita CO₂ emissions, we’d expect countries with high living standards to have a high carbon footprint.

But the data above shows significant differences in per capita emissions, even between countries with similar living standards. Many countries across Europe, for example, have much lower emissions than the U.S., Canada, or Australia.

Here’s a look at the top 25 countries by standard of living and their share of electricity production from fossil fuels:

Rank	Country	Per Capita Electricity Consumption (kWh)	% Electricity Production (from fossil fuels)
1	🇫🇮 Finland	12,174	15.6%
2	🇩🇰 Denmark	5,015	21.8%
3	🇳🇴 Norway	26,492	1.2%
4	🇧🇪 Belgium	7,414	34.6%
5	🇸🇪 Sweden	16,478	2.2%
6	🇨🇭 Switzerland	7,935	1.0%
7	🇳🇱 Netherlands	7,264	71.5%
8	🇫🇷 France	8,097	9.5%
9	🇩🇪 Germany	6,771	43.8%
10	🇯🇵 Japan	7,446	69.1%
11	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	4,500	40.7%
12	🇨🇦 Canada	16,648	16.6%
13	🇰🇷 South Korea	10,458	65.8%
14	🇺🇸 United States	12,235	60.1%
15	🇹🇼 Taiwan	11,091	82.8%
16	🇦🇹 Austria	7,716	20.7%
17	🇦🇺 Australia	9,857	75.1%
18	🇮🇪 Ireland	6,408	59.3%
19	🇸🇬 Singapore	8,542	96.7%
20	🇪🇸 Spain	5,641	34.4%
21	🇮🇹 Italy	4,554	56.8%
22	🇨🇿 Czech Republic	7,534	50.7%
23	🇵🇹 Portugal	5,100	41.2%
24	🇳🇿 New Zealand	8,880	18.9%
25	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	1,529	28.5%

Sources: Electricity consumption, Fossil fuel mix

The choice of energy sources plays a key role here. In the UK, Portugal, and France, a much higher share of electricity is produced from nuclear and renewable sources.

For example, only 9.5% of France’s electricity production comes from fossil fuels, compared to other developed countries like the U.S. at 60.1% and Japan at 69.1%.

G20 Countries and Carbon Emissions

This reliance on fossil fuels for energy production extends to the rest of the G20 countries. According to the Climate Transparency Report, CO₂ emissions will rise by 4% across the G20 group this year, dropping 6% in 2020 due to the pandemic.

This rise is mainly due to the increase in coal consumption across these countries. Coal consumption is projected to rise by almost 5% in 2021, with this growth driven by China (accounting for 61% of the growth), the U.S. (18%), and India (17%).

Here’s a look at the current coal power capacity of each G20 country:

coal power capacity of g20 members

Coal use in China has surged, with the country experiencing increased demand for energy as the global economy has recovered. Coal prices are up nearly 200% from a year ago.

Plans to Tackle Emissions

The conclusion of the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow saw several pledges and announcements being made by various countries. Here are some of the highlights:

The world’s biggest CO₂ emitters, the U.S. and China, pledged to cooperate more over the next decade in areas including methane emissions and the switch to clean energy.
Leaders from more than 100 countries—with about 85% of the world’s forests—promised to stop deforestation by 2030.
More than 100 countries agreed upon a scheme to cut 30% of methane emissions by 2030.
Financial organizations have agreed to back renewable energy and direct finance away from fossil fuel-burning industries.

Many countries have pledged to do their part to tackle climate change. It will be an impressive display of global unity if global CO₂ emissions drop significantly over the next decade.

Up Next

Mapped: 30 Years of Deforestation and Forest Growth, by Country

Don't Miss

Visualizing the Accumulation of Human-Made Mass on Earth

Click for Comments

Environment

The Most Polluted Cities in the U.S.

What are the most polluted cities in the U.S. according to data from the American Lung Association’s 2024 State of the Air Report?

Graphics & Design

Zack Aboulazm

Bubble chart showing the 21 most polluted cities in the U.S. based on the American Lung Association's 2024 State of the Air report, with a bar chart showing the economic benefit of reducing PM2.5 concentrations, by sector.

The Most Polluted U.S. Cities in 2024

According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is responsible for 7 million deaths annually, and could cost the global economy between $18–25 trillion by 2060 in annual welfare costs, or roughly 4–6% of world GDP.

And with predictions that 7 in 10 people will make their homes in urban centers by mid-century, cities are fast becoming one of the frontlines in the global effort to clear the air.

In this visualization, we use 2024 data from the State of the Air report from the American Lung Association to show the most polluted cities in the United States.

What is Air Pollution?

Air pollution is a complex mixture of gases, particles, and liquid droplets and can have a variety of sources, including wildfires and cookstoves in rural areas, and road dust and diesel exhaust in cities.

There are a few kinds of air pollution that are especially bad for human health, including ozone and carbon monoxide, but here we’re concerned with fine particulate matter that is smaller than 2.5 microns, or PM_2.5 for short.

The reason for the focus is because at that small size, particulate matter can penetrate the bloodstream and cause all manner of havoc, including cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and chronic pulmonary disease.

The American Lung Association has set an annual average guideline of 9 µg/m³ for PM_2.5, however, the World Health Organization has set a much more stringent limit of 5 µg/m³.

The 21 Worst Polluted Cities in the U.S.

Here are the top 21 most polluted cities in the U.S., according to their annual average PM_2.5 concentrations:

Rank	City, State	Annual average concentration, 2020-2022 (µg/m3)
1	Bakersfield, CA	18.8
2	Visalia, CA	18.4
3	Fresno, CA	17.5
4	Eugene, OR	14.7
5	Bay Area, CA	14.3
6	Los Angeles, CA	14.0
7	Sacramento, CA	13.8
8	Medford, OR	13.5
9	Pheonix, AZ	12.4
10	Fairbanks, AK	12.2
11	Indianapolis, IN	11.9
12	Yakima, WA	11.8
13	Detroit, MI	11.7
T14	Chico, CA	11.6
T14	Spokane, WA	11.6
15	Houston, TX	11.4
16	El Centro, CA	11.1
17	Reno, NV	11.0
18	Pittsburgh, PA	10.9
T19	Kansas City, KS	10.8
T19	Las Vegas, NV	10.8

Note: The American Lung Association uses Core Based Statistical Areas in its city and county rankings, which have been shortened here to the area’s principal city, or metro area in the case of the Bay Area, CA.

Six of the top seven cities are in California, and four in the state’s Central Valley, a 450-mile flat valley that runs parallel to the Pacific coast, and bordered by the Coast and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges. As a result, when pollution from the big population centers on the coast is carried inland by the wind—cities #5 and #6 on the list—it tends to get trapped in the valley.

Bakersfield (#1), Visalia (#2), and Fresno (#3) are located at the drier and hotter southern end of the valley, which is worse for air quality. The top three local sources of PM_2.5 emissions in 2023 were farms (20%), forest management / agricultural waste burning (20%), and road dust (14%).

Benefit to Economy

While the health impacts are generally well understood, less well known are the economic impacts.

Low air quality negatively affects worker productivity, increases absenteeism, and adds both direct and indirect health care costs. But the flip side of that equation is that improving air quality has measurable impacts to the wider economy. The EPA published a study that calculated the economic benefits of each metric ton of particulate matter that didn’t end up in the atmosphere, broken down by sector.

Sector	Benefits per metric ton
Residential Woodstoves	$429,220
Refineries	$333,938
Industrial Boilers	$174,229
Oil and Natural Gas Transmission	$125,227
Electricity Generating Units	$124,319
Oil and Natural Gas	$88,838

At the same time, the EPA recently updated a cost-benefit analysis of the Clean Air Act, the main piece of federal legislation governing air quality, and found that between 1990 and 2020 it cost the economy roughly $65 billion, but also provided $2 trillion in benefits.

Benefit to Business

But that’s at the macroeconomic level, so what about for individual businesses?

For one, employees like to breathe clean air and will choose to work somewhere else, given a choice. A 2022 Deloitte case study revealed that nearly 70% of highly-skilled workers said air quality was a significant factor in choosing which city to live and work in.

At the same time, air quality can impact employer-sponsored health care premiums, by reducing the overall health of the risk pool. And since insurance premiums averaged $7,590 per year in 2022 for a single employee, and rose to $21,931 for a family, that can add up fast.

Consumers are also putting their purchase decisions through a green lens, while ESG, triple-bottom-line, and impact investing are putting the environment front and center for many investors.

And if the carrot isn’t enough for some businesses, there is the stick. The EPA recently gave vehicle engine manufacturer Cummins nearly two billion reasons to help improve air quality, in a settlement the agency is calling “the largest civil penalty in the history of the Clean Air Act and the second largest environmental penalty ever.”

Learn how the National Public Utilities Council is working toward the future of sustainable electricity.

Click for Comments

Environment1 month ago

Ranked: Top Countries by Total Forest Loss Since 2001

The country with the most forest loss since 2001 lost as much forest cover as the next four countries combined.
Environment3 months ago

Charted: Share of World Forests by Country

We visualize which countries have the biggest share of world forests by area—and while country size plays a factor, so too, does the environment.
Environment4 months ago

Which Countries Have the Largest Forests?

Together, the top five countries with the largest forests account for more than half of the world’s entire forest cover.
Environment4 months ago

Visualized: What Lives in Your Gut Microbiome?

The human gut microbiome contains a world of microbes. We look at the the bacteria that deeply affect our health and well-being.
Environment5 months ago

Mapped: Global Temperature Rise by Country (2022-2100P)

In this set of three maps, we show the global temperature rise on a national level for 2022, 2050, and 2100 based on an analysis by…
Environment5 months ago

Ranked: Per Capita Carbon Emissions by Country

Which countries rank the highest in per capita carbon emissions, and how do they impact the world’s total carbon emissions?