Warming Contributions

Data source: the Global Carbon Budget. UEA researchers have determined how countries have each contributed to global warming through their historical emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O), from their use of fossil fuels and land.

The map shows the historic contribution of each country as a percentage of average global warming since pre-industrial (taken as 1851), 1990, 2005, or 2020. The map can display contributions from fossil fuel emissions and land use change separately. Further below, the table shows the relative contribution of fossil fuels and land use change, for each country.

Country contribution trends

Countries that have made the largest historic contribution to global warming include the United States, China, the EU (27 countries), Russia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Collectively, these countries account for 69% of historic warming.

All countries continue to contribute to global warming, and will continue to do so until they reach net zero CO₂ emissions. However, since 1990, some countries have reduced methane emissions from fossil fuel use and land use change, resulting in small cooling contributions from the related processes, which has offset their much larger warming contributions from CO₂.