On Sept. 20, the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research, or EDGAR, a scientific group associated with the European Commission, released its 2022 report detailing the CO2 emissions of every country in the world between 1970 and 2021.
- A recent report published by the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), a scientific group associated with the European Commission, found that while global CO2 emissions dropped in 2020, they returned to nearly pre-pandemic levels in 2021.
- The report found that China, the United States, the 27 countries that make up the European Union, India, Russia and Japan continue to be the world’s largest emitters, contributing about 70% of global CO2 emissions. Some of these countries’ emissions continued to rise, but others fell from 2019 levels.
- While experts say the EDGAR report provides a comprehensive view of global emissions, they point to limitations in the data, such as the fact that it only accounts for CO2 but not other greenhouse gas emissions.
- It’s estimated that the world has already warmed about 1.2°C (2.2°F) above pre-industrial levels, but some experts say we can still meet the target of the Paris Agreement targets if nations have the political will to instigate change.
It found that global CO2 emissions in 2020 — the year distinguished by COVID-19 lockdowns — fell 5.3% below 2019 levels. But in 2021, global CO2 emissions “bounced back almost to the level of 2019,” with countries releasing 37.9 billion metric tons, or gigatonnes (Gt), of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — only about 0.36% lower than what was released in 2019.
China, the United States, the 27 countries that make up the European Union, India, Russia and Japan have historically been the world’s largest emitting countries — and they remained so in 2021, according to the report. Together, these nations account for nearly 50% of the global population and emit almost 70% of global CO2 emissions. All six increased their fossil fuel consumption in 2021 when compared to 2020, with Russia and India experiencing the largest increases — 8.1% and 10.5% respectively.
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