◄Previous: 2.3.1 Carbon footprints per person

2.3.2 Total carbon footprints

The picture of carbon footprints changes again when you consider total CO₂ emissions for different countries rather than emissions per person. Table 4 shows that by 2011 China had become by far the greatest total emitter of CO₂, followed by the USA and India. In terms of consumption-based emissions too, the three greatest CO₂ emitters were China, the USA and India (CCC, 2013).

Table 4 Total territorial carbon dioxide emissions for selected countries (CDIAC, 2015; Global Carbon Atlas, 2016)

Country	Total CO₂ (2011), million tonnes per year (rounded)	Total CO₂ (2015 est.), million tonnes per year (rounded)
China	9020	9680
United States	5306	5561
India	2074	2597
Russian Federation	1808	1595
Japan	1188	1232
Germany	730	789
Saudi Arabia	520	602
South Africa	477	476
United Kingdom	448	428
Brazil	439	507
Australia	369	382
France	339	331
Turkey	321	573
Thailand	303	337
Egypt	221	237
Pakistan	164	168
Nigeria	88.0	93.6
Romania	84.8	72.6
Israel	69.5	67.2
Sweden	52.1	44.3
Ireland	36.1	35.9
Uganda	3.8	4.3
World average (mean)	150.8	(World total 36 292)

(CDIAC, 2015; Global Carbon Atlas, 2016)

Note: the CO₂ emissions shown in Tables 2 and 4 are based on from burning fossil fuels, cement manufacture and gas flaring.

Figure 10 shows more of the same information updated using estimations to 2015, when China, USA and India emitted half of the world’s CO₂.

Figure 10 Estimated total territorial CO₂ emissions in 2015 (Global Carbon Atlas, 2016)

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