Published 2026-09-15 · data 2023 · percent of global fossil CO₂
Who emits most CO₂ today
National shares of annual fossil CO₂. China, the US, and the EU dominate the grid — but per-capita stories differ.
Today's climate trajectory hinges on a handful of emitters. In 2023, China accounted for 31% of global fossil CO₂ — more than the United States (14%) and the European Union (9%) combined — while the rest of the world made up the remaining 46%. Annual shares shape who must cut fastest, but they sit uneasily beside per-capita footprints and two centuries of cumulative emissions. That tension is what this grid is about.
1 cell = 0.1 percent of global fossil CO₂ (0.1% of fossil CO₂ emissions) · 1,000 cells
Context
China's lead is unambiguous. It emitted 12.3 billion tonnes of CO₂ in 2024 — 31.84% of the global total, per Our World in Data — yet its per-person footprint was 8.66 tonnes, a reminder that national shares partly reflect population size.
History complicates the picture. China's cumulative emissions since 1751 total 285 billion tonnes, or 15.42% of the global historical total — far below its current annual weight, because its emissions surged only in recent decades.
Trade shifts the ledger too. On a consumption basis — subtracting carbon embedded in exports and adding carbon in imports — China's emissions come to roughly 10.9 billion tonnes, below its 12.3 billion tonnes of territorial emissions.
Global fossil CO₂ shares rounded to 1,000 cells (2023).
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Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2026-09-15-co2-emissions-share
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