CO2 emissions from electricity and heat production, total (% of total fuel combustion) - Country Ranking

Definition: CO2 emissions from electricity and heat production is the sum of three IEA categories of CO2 emissions: (1) Main Activity Producer Electricity and Heat which contains the sum of emissions from main activity producer electricity generation, combined heat and power generation and heat plants. Main activity producers (formerly known as public utilities) are defined as those undertakings whose primary activity is to supply the public. They may be publicly or privately owned. This corresponds to IPCC Source/Sink Category 1 A 1 a. For the CO2 emissions from fuel combustion (summary) file, emissions from own on-site use of fuel in power plants (EPOWERPLT) are also included. (2) Unallocated Autoproducers which contains the emissions from the generation of electricity and/or heat by autoproducers. Autoproducers are defined as undertakings that generate electricity and/or heat, wholly or partly for their own use as an activity which supports their primary activity. They may be privately or publicly owned. In the 1996 IPCC Guidelines, these emissions would normally be distributed between industry, transport and "other" sectors. (3) Other Energy Industries contains emissions from fuel combusted in petroleum refineries, for the manufacture of solid fuels, coal mining, oil and gas extraction and other energy-producing industries. This corresponds to the IPCC Source/Sink Categories 1 A 1 b and 1 A 1 c. According to the 1996 IPCC Guidelines, emissions from coke inputs to blast furnaces can either be counted here or in the Industrial Processes source/sink category. Within detailed sectoral calculations, certain non-energy processes can be distinguished. In the reduction of iron in a blast furnace through the combustion of coke, the primary purpose of the coke oxidation is to produce pig iron and the emissions can be considered as an industrial process. Care must be taken not to double count these emissions in both Energy and Industrial Processes. In the IEA estimations, these emissions have been included in this category.

Source: IEA Statistics © OECD/IEA 2014 (http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp), subject to https://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Bahrain 80.46 2014
2 Estonia 78.08 2014
3 Brunei 72.09 2014
4 Bosnia and Herzegovina 70.72 2014
5 Serbia 69.43 2014
6 Bulgaria 69.05 2014
7 Malta 68.38 2014
8 Israel 67.99 2014
9 South Africa 67.48 2014
10 Kuwait 67.39 2014
11 Montenegro 67.12 2014
12 Hong Kong SAR, China 66.19 2014
13 Iraq 65.04 2014
14 Mongolia 63.82 2014
15 Qatar 63.54 2014
16 Kazakhstan 63.27 2014
17 Trinidad and Tobago 62.13 2014
18 Mauritius 61.36 2014
19 Russia 61.11 2014
20 Korea 60.49 2014
21 North Macedonia 59.89 2014
22 Zimbabwe 59.44 2014
23 Singapore 58.65 2014
24 Czech Republic 58.59 2014
25 Australia 58.36 2014
26 Greece 58.11 2014
27 Lebanon 57.22 2014
28 Belarus 57.17 2014
29 Poland 55.61 2014
30 Eritrea 55.36 2014
31 Botswana 54.51 2014
32 Malaysia 54.04 2014
33 Dominican Republic 53.63 2014
34 India 53.61 2014
35 Libya 53.19 2014
36 Japan 53.10 2014
37 Bangladesh 52.80 2014
38 Cuba 52.80 2014
39 Jordan 52.43 2014
40 China 52.25 2014
41 Finland 50.65 2014
42 Egypt 50.34 2014
43 Philippines 50.16 2014
44 Cyprus 50.00 2014
45 Ukraine 49.97 2014
46 Saudi Arabia 49.16 2014
47 Germany 48.47 2014
48 Turkey 46.69 2014
49 Thailand 46.60 2014
50 Azerbaijan 46.18 2014
51 United States 45.99 2014
52 Netherlands 45.85 2014
53 Romania 45.58 2014
54 Denmark 45.20 2014
55 Moldova 45.10 2014
56 Syrian Arab Republic 44.47 2014
57 Indonesia 44.25 2014
58 Mexico 44.07 2014
59 Chile 43.02 2014
60 Uzbekistan 42.45 2014
61 Côte d'Ivoire 42.03 2014
62 United Kingdom 41.93 2014
63 Suriname 41.71 2014
64 United Arab Emirates 41.52 2014
65 Portugal 41.11 2014
66 Honduras 40.91 2014
67 Sri Lanka 40.80 2014
68 Morocco 40.59 2014
69 Nigeria 39.06 2014
70 Algeria 38.83 2014
71 Tunisia 38.78 2014
72 Canada 38.73 2014
73 Slovak Republic 38.66 2014
74 Oman 38.53 2014
75 Argentina 38.04 2014
76 Spain 37.41 2014
77 Senegal 37.10 2014
78 Norway 36.48 2014
79 Turkmenistan 35.82 2014
80 Slovenia 35.66 2014
81 Italy 35.56 2014
82 Venezuela 35.54 2014
83 Jamaica 35.43 2014
84 Vietnam 34.90 2014
85 Peru 34.42 2014
86 Nicaragua 34.36 2014
87 Iran 34.35 2014
88 Ireland 33.73 2014
89 Pakistan 33.68 2014
90 Gabon 32.66 2014
91 Cameroon 32.62 2014
92 Austria 32.58 2014
93 Croatia 31.77 2014
94 Yemen 31.49 2014
95 Hungary 31.13 2014
96 Lithuania 30.94 2014
97 Panama 30.88 2014
98 Armenia 29.69 2014
99 Haiti 29.35 2014
100 El Salvador 28.06 2014
101 Colombia 26.91 2014
102 Latvia 26.64 2014
103 Ecuador 26.47 2014
104 Brazil 26.31 2014
105 Belgium 25.85 2014
106 Kyrgyz Republic 25.84 2014
107 Bolivia 24.64 2014
108 Ghana 24.33 2014
109 Myanmar 24.28 2014
110 Sweden 24.24 2014
111 New Zealand 23.72 2014
112 Niger 23.47 2014
113 Tanzania 23.34 2014
114 Guatemala 21.07 2014
115 Mozambique 19.90 2014
116 Cambodia 19.84 2014
117 Angola 19.17 2014
118 Congo 17.42 2014
119 Sudan 16.49 2014
120 Dem. People's Rep. Korea 16.22 2014
121 Uruguay 15.47 2014
122 Georgia 14.64 2014
123 France 13.80 2014
124 Kenya 13.36 2014
125 Costa Rica 10.74 2014
126 Zambia 9.72 2014
127 Switzerland 9.30 2014
128 Luxembourg 8.32 2014
129 Tajikistan 4.29 2014
130 Albania 2.91 2014
131 Benin 2.26 2014
132 Nepal 1.85 2014
133 Togo 1.16 2014
134 Namibia 0.28 2014
135 Ethiopia 0.11 2014
136 Dem. Rep. Congo 0.00 2014
136 Iceland 0.00 2014
136 Paraguay 0.00 2014

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Development Relevance: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is naturally occurring gas fixed by photosynthesis into organic matter. A byproduct of fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning, it is also emitted from land use changes and other industrial processes. It is the principal anthropogenic greenhouse gas that affects the Earth's radiative balance. It is the reference gas against which other greenhouse gases are measured, thus having a Global Warming Potential of 1. Emission intensity is the average emission rate of a given pollutant from a given source relative to the intensity of a specific activity. Emission intensities are also used to compare the environmental impact of different fuels or activities. The related terms - emission factor and carbon intensity - are often used interchangeably. Burning of carbon-based fuels since the industrial revolution has rapidly increased concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, increasing the rate of global warming and causing anthropogenic climate change. It is also a major source of ocean acidification since it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid. The addition of man-made greenhouse gases to the Atmosphere disturbs the earth's radiative balance. This is leading to an increase in the earth's surface temperature and to related effects on climate, sea level rise and world agriculture. Emissions of CO2 are from burning oil, coal and gas for energy use, burning wood and waste materials, and from industrial processes such as cement production. Global emissions of carbon dioxide have risen by 99%, or on average 2.0% per year, since 1971, and are projected to rise by another 45% by 2030, or by 1.6% per year. It is estimated that emissions in China have risen by 5.7 percent per annum between 1971 and 2006 - the use of coal in China increased levels of CO2 by 4.8 billion tonnes over this period. The environmental effects of carbon dioxide are of significant interest. Carbon dioxide (CO2) makes up the largest share of the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming and climate change. Converting all other greenhouse gases (methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)) to carbon dioxide (or CO2) equivalents makes it possible to compare them and to determine their individual and total contributions to global warming. The Kyoto Protocol, an environmental agreement adopted in 1997 by many of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is working towards curbing CO2 emissions globally.

Limitations and Exceptions: As a response to the objectives of the UNFCCC, the IEA Secretariat, together with the IPCC, the OECD and umerous international experts, has helped to develop and refine an internationally-agreed methodology for the calculation and reporting of national greenhouse-gas emissions from fuel combustion. This methodology was published in 1995 in the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. After the initial dissemination of the methodology, revisions were added to several chapters, and published as the Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (1996 IPCC Guidelines). In April 2006, the IPCC approved the 2006 Guidelines at the 25th session of the IPCC in Mauritius. For now, most countries (as well as the IEA Secretariat) are still calculating their inventories using the 1996 IPCC Guidelines.1. Both the 1996 IPCC Guidelines and the 2006 IPCC Guidelines are available from the IPCC Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp). Since the IPCC methodology for fuel combustion is largely based on energy balances, the IEA estimates for CO2 from fuel combustion have been calculated using the IEA energy balances and the default IPCC methodology. However, other possibly more detailed methodologies may be used by Parties to calculate their inventories. This may lead to different estimates of emissions. The carbon dioxide emissions of a country are only an indicator of one greenhouse gas. For a more complete idea of how a country influences climate change, gases such as methane and nitrous oxide should be taken into account. This is particularly important in agricultural economies.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Carbon dioxide emissions account for the largest share of greenhouse gases, which are associated with global warming. In 2010 the International Energy Agency (IEA) released data on carbon dioxide emissions by sector for the first time, allowing a more comprehensive understanding of each sector's contribution to total emissions. The sectoral approach yields data on carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] source/sink category 1A) as calculated using the IPCC tier 1 sectoral approach. Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity and heat production are the sum of emissions from main activity producers of electricity and heat, unallocated autoproducers, and other energy industries. Main activity producers (formerly known as public supply undertakings) generate electricity or heat for sale to third parties as their primary activity and may be privately or publicly owned. Emissions from own onsite use of fuel in power plants are also included in this category. Unallocated autoproducers are undertakings that generate electricity or heat, wholly or partly for their own use as an activity that supports their primary activity and may be privately or publicly owned. In the 1996 IPCC guidelines these emissions were allocated among industry, transport, and "other" sectors. Emissions from other energy industries are emissions from fuel combusted in petroleum refineries, the manufacture of solid fuels, coal mining, oil and gas extraction, and other energy-producing industries. Carbon dioxide emissions, largely by-products of energy production and use, account for the largest share of greenhouse gases, which are associated with global warming. Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions result primarily from fossil fuel combustion and cement manufacturing. In combustion different fossil fuels release different amounts of carbon dioxide for the same level of energy use: oil releases about 50 percent more carbon dioxide than natural gas, and coal releases about twice as much. Cement manufacturing releases about half a metric ton of carbon dioxide for each metric ton of cement produced.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Restricted use: Please contact the International Energy Agency for third-party use of these data.