List of countries by carbon intensity of GDP

World map of emission intensity (kg of CO₂ per Intl$), 2018

The following list of countries by carbon intensity of GDP sorts countries by their emission intensity. Carbon intensity or emission intensity of GDP is a measure that evaluates the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions produced per unit of GDP. It provides an indication of how efficiently an economy uses carbon-based resources to generate economic output. A lower carbon intensity indicates that less CO₂ is emitted to produce a given level of economic output, indicating a more carbon-efficient economy.

List

Countries

Countries by carbon intensity of GDP. Carbon intensity is measured by CO₂ emissions in kilograms per International dollar (US dollar adjusted for purchasing power parity) of economic output. ^[1] Data are for the year 2022.

Rank	Country	CO2 kg/$
1	North Korea	1.26
2	Trinidad and Tobago	0.92
3	Mongolia	0.85
4	Turkmenistan	0.73
5	Libya	0.69
6	Lesotho	0.66
7	Bahrain	0.64
8	South Africa	0.56
9	Kazakhstan	0.54
10	Syria	0.53
11	Venezuela	0.51
12	Kuwait	0.50
13	Lebanon	0.49
14	Ukraine	0.46
15	Russia	0.44
16	Iran	0.44
17	China	0.42
18	Laos	0.42
19	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.42
20	Vietnam	0.41
21	Oman	0.41
22	Serbia	0.37
23	Saudi Arabia	0.36
24	Barbados	0.36
25	Zimbabwe	0.34
26	Iraq	0.34
27	Belarus	0.33
28	Bulgaria	0.33
29	Malaysia	0.33
30	Jamaica	0.32
31	Republic of the Congo	0.31
32	United Arab Emirates	0.31
33	Canada	0.31
34	Uzbekistan	0.31
35	Cambodia	0.31
36	Kyrgyzstan	0.30
37	Algeria	0.30
38	Australia	0.29
39	Mauritania	0.29
40	Czech Republic	0.29
41	South Korea	0.28
42	Bolivia	0.27
43	Tunisia	0.27
44	India	0.27
45	Saint Lucia	0.27
46	Qatar	0.27
47	Macedonia	0.26
48	Poland	0.26
49	United States	0.26
50	Mozambique	0.25
51	Benin	0.25
52	Estonia	0.26
53	Mexico	0.25
54	Equatorial Guinea	0.25
55	Cuba	0.25
56	Comoros	0.25
57	Thailand	0.24
58	Ecuador	0.24
58	Vanuatu	0.24
59	Jordan	0.23
60	Mali	0.23
61	Afghanistan	0.23
62	Moldova	0.23
63	Slovakia	0.23
64	Dominica	0.23
65	Greece	0.23
66	Argentina	0.23
67	Senegal	0.22
68	Honduras	0.22
69	Taiwan	0.22
70	Iceland	0.22
71	Japan	0.22
72	Morocco	0.22
73	Azerbaijan	0.22
74	Seychelles	0.22
75	Guinea	0.21
76	Luxembourg	0.21
77	Indonesia	0.21
78	Liberia	0.21
79	Cyprus	0.21
80	Tajikistan	0.20
81	Botswana	0.19
82	Chile	0.19
83	Yemen	0.19
84	Slovenia	0.18
85	Belgium	0.18
86	Turkey	0.18
87	Namibia	0.18
88	Togo	0.18
89	Montenegro	0.18
90	Peru	0.18
91	Egypt	0.18
92	Croatia	0.17
93	Germany	0.17
94	Nicaragua	0.17
95	Israel	0.17
96	Gambia	0.17
97	Nepal	0.16
98	Armenia	0.16
99	New Zealand	0.16
100	Sao Tome and Principe	0.16
101	Finland	0.16
102	Burkina Faso	0.16
103	Gabon	0.16
104	Italy	0.16
105	Mauritius	0.16
106	Georgia	0.16
107	Hungary	0.16
108	Austria	0.15
109	Pakistan	0.15
110	Brazil	0.15
111	Spain	0.15
112	Lithuania	0.15
113	Philippines	0.15
114	Romania	0.15
115	Palestine	0.15
116	Ghana	0.14
117	Netherlands	0.14
118	Portugal	0.14
119	Haiti	0.14
120	Paraguay	0.14
121	Albania	0.14
122	Colombia	0.13
123	Cape Verde	0.13
124	Djibouti	0.13
125	Swaziland	0.13
126	Guatemala	0.13
127	Kenya	0.13
128	Zambia	0.13
129	El Salvador	0.13
130	Latvia	0.13
131	Ireland	0.13
132	Panama	0.13
133	Dominican Republic	0.12
134	Niger	0.12
135	United Kingdom	0.12
136	Myanmar	0.12
137	Bangladesh	0.12
138	Cameroon	0.12
139	Singapore	0.12
140	Uruguay	0.11
141	Madagascar	0.11
142	Nigeria	0.11
143	France	0.11
144	Angola	0.10
145	Guinea-Bissau	0.10
146	Chad	0.10
147	Costa Rica	0.10
148	Denmark	0.10
149	Sierra Leone	0.10
150	Côte d'Ivoire	0.10
151	Malta	0.09
152	Burundi	0.09
153	Hong Kong	0.09
154	Norway	0.08
155	Malawi	0.08
156	Tanzania	0.08
157	Sweden	0.08
158	Ethiopia	0.07
159	Sri Lanka	0.07
160	Switzerland	0.06
161	Central African Republic	0.06
162	Uganda	0.06
163	Rwanda	0.05
164	DR Congo	0.04

World regions

Region	CO2 kg/$
Asia	0.33
Oceania	0.29
World	0.29
North America	0.26
Africa	0.22
Europe	0.20
South America	0.18

Income groups

Income group	CO2 kg/$
Upper-middle-income countries	0.35
Lower-middle-income countries	0.25
High income countries	0.22
Low-income countries	0.20

Historical development

Development of CO₂ emissions in kilograms per international dollar of economic output in major countries over time. ^[1]

Country	1820	1850	1900	1950	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2022	1950–2018 (change)
Argentina			0.10	0.22	0.30	0.29	0.33	0.27	0.24	0.23	+5%
Australia			0.42	0.57	0.61	0.66	0.60	0.51	0.41	0.29	−49%
Bangladesh				0.03	0.06	0.10	0.13	0.13	0.13	0.12	+300%
Belgium		0.71	1.24	1.01	0.77	0.59	0.44	0.37	0.28	0.18	−82%
Brazil			0.12	0.16	0.21	0.18	0.18	0.20	0.16	0.15	−6%
Canada			0.81	0.95	0.82	0.70	0.55	0.50	0.40	0.31	−67%
China				0.18	0.71	0.79	0.73	0.61	0.67	0.42	+133%
France	0.05	0.21	0.69	0.58	0.49	0.39	0.24	0.20	0.16	0.11	−81%
Germany	0.09	0.20	1.26	1.21	0.76	0.62	0.52	0.33	0.25	0.17	−86%
India			0.04	0.17	0.24	0.29	0.33	0.35	0.32	0.27	+59%
Indonesia			0.02	0.09	0.16	0.22	0.20	0.24	0.22	0.21	+133%
Italy			0.13	0.16	0.36	0.33	0.30	0.25	0.21	0.16	+0%
Japan			0.21	0.40	0.48	0.38	0.31	0.30	0.27	0.22	−45%
Mexico			0.04	0.31	0.31	0.39	0.38	0.32	0.28	0.25	−19%
Netherlands			0.54	0.53	0.57	0.53	0.39	0.28	0.25	0.14	−74%
Nigeria				0.06	0.22	0.44	0.23	0.29	0.14	0.11	+83%
Pakistan				0.13	0.21	0.20	0.23	0.23	0.19	0.15	+15%
Philippines				0.10	0.23	0.19	0.18	0.22	0.15	0.15	+50%
Poland				1.16	1.32	1.42	1.21	0.65	0.42	0.26	−80%
Russia					1.20	1.25	1.38	0.96	0.52	0.44	−64%
Saudi Arabia				0.37	0.61	0.80	0.91	0.61	0.45	0.36	−3%
South Africa				1.11	1.02	1.11	1.33	1.11	0.80	0.56	−50%
South Korea				0.10	0.56	0.58	0.42	0.41	0.38	0.34	+240%
Spain			0.23	0.34	0.36	0.41	0.31	0.28	0.19	0.15	−56%
Sweden			0.54	0.38	0.57	0.36	0.24	0.18	0.13	0.08	−79%
Switzerland			0.26	0.19	0.27	0.23	0.19	0.14	0.10	0.06	−58%
United Kingdom	0.61	1.04	1.34	0.90	0.68	0.50	0.40	0.30	0.23	0.12	−87%
United States	0.03	0.23	1.08	1.10	0.88	0.71	0.55	0.46	0.37	0.26	−76%
Vietnam				0.06	0.56	0.26	0.19	0.24	0.34	0.41	+583%

References

1. "Carbon emission intensity of economies". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2023-06-21.