China CO₂ Emissions (Global Carbon Budget)

## What this measures

Annual carbon dioxide emitted from fossil fuels and industry within China, in million tonnes of CO₂. Land-use change is not included. Annual; each value is dated December 31 of its year.

## Why it matters

Territorial fossil CO₂ is the core number behind national climate targets, carbon border adjustments and transition planning. It shows where emissions are concentrated and which economies are decarbonizing.

## How to read it

Lower is less. Read the trend over five years or more and the change from a reference year such as 2005 or 2019. Economic slowdowns (2009, 2020) show as one-year dips that usually rebound.

## What it does not say

It counts emissions produced inside the borders, not emissions embodied in imported goods. International aviation and shipping are excluded from national totals. It covers CO₂ only, not methane or other greenhouse gases, and excludes land-use change. The latest year is a preliminary estimate and is revised.

## Source

Global Carbon Budget (2025), Global Carbon Project, processed by Our World in Data (chart `annual-co2-emissions-per-country`). Cite: Andrew, R. M. and Peters, G. P. (2025), The Global Carbon Project's fossil CO2 emissions dataset (2025v15), Zenodo, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17417124; and Friedlingstein, P. et al., Global Carbon Budget 2025. License: CC BY 4.0. Our World in Data processing is CC BY 4.0. https://globalcarbonbudget.org/