It’s seen that only seven nations have declared emission reductions big enough to reach the Paris Agreement’s goals, including just one of the largest emitters, India. The seven largest emitters, apart from India which currently emits 7% of the world’s CO 2 , are China (28%), the USA (14%), Russia (5%), Japan (3%), Germany (2%, biggest in the EU) and South Korea (2%). The EU designation here includes the UK and 27 European nations.

As the following figure shows, annual CO 2 emissions from both China and India are rising, along with those from the other developing nations (“Rest of world”). Emissions from the USA and EU, on the other hand, have been steady or falling for several decades. Ironically, the USA’s emissions in 2019, which dropped by 2.9% from the year before, were no higher than in 1993 – despite the country’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.