We have seen that the global CO2 emissions in 2021 were about 39.4 gigatonnes. But how do different countries contribute to this? Hsiang and Hsiang report contributions from the top 15 countries in 2014. Here are the top 10 that I picked up.
| Country | Emissions (2014) G tonne CO2 | Cumulative Emissions (1751–2014) G tonne CO2 | Emission per capita (2014) tonnes CO2 |
| China | 10.3 | 174.7 | 7.5 |
| United States | 5.3 | 375.9 | 16.2 |
| India | 2.2 | 41.7 | 1.7 |
| Russia | 1.7 | 151.3 | 11.9 |
| Japan | 1.2 | 53.5 | 9.6 |
| Germany | 0.7 | 86.5 | 8.9 |
| Iran | 0.6 | 14.8 | 8.3 |
| Saudi Arabia | 0.6 | 12.0 | 19.5 |
| South Korea | 0.6 | 14.0 | 11.7 |
| Canada | 0.5 | 29.5 | 15.1 |
Notice that these ten already account for 75% of the total 34.1 Gt in 2014! Also to check is the disparity in the per capita contribution and the cumulative contribution that created this monster of climate change in the first place.
Hsiang and Hsiang, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2018, 32(4), 3–32
