European Commission data puts 2025 greenhouse gas emissions at a record 54 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent, up 0.7 per cent. The United States posted the largest absolute increase of any economy.
Humanity emitted more greenhouse gas in 2025 than in any previous year. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre put the total at 54 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent, excluding land use, in data published on 7 September. That is a rise of 0.7 per cent on 2024, a slower pace than the year before, although still an increase.
The figures come from the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research, or EDGAR. The JRC compiles it with the International Energy Agency. This is the first full-year dataset for 2025 and it arrives ahead of COP31 in November. Negotiators will therefore have a hard number on how far the world sits from the Paris goals.
Where emissions rose and fell
Six economies produced 62 per cent of global emissions in 2025: China, the United States, India, the EU, Russia and Indonesia. The United States registered the largest absolute rise anywhere, up 2.2 per cent on 2024. Türkiye recorded the steepest relative increase among major emitters at 4.2 per cent. Iran and Saudi Arabia were also up.
China and India, meanwhile, held their emissions flat for the first time. China was up 0.1 per cent and India down 0.2 per cent. Six of the 16 emitters that each produce more than 1 per cent of the global total cut their output. Australia, Brazil and Japan were among them.
Europe kept cutting. EU emissions fell 0.2 per cent, taking the reduction since 1990 to 35.6 per cent. Its share of the global total dropped to 5.8 per cent. Per person, EU emissions of 7.1 tonnes are now close to the global average of 6.6 tonnes. The JRC notes that EDGAR’s method differs from the EU’s own inventory, which tracks progress against legal targets.
Aviation, shipping and land use
Transport kept climbing. Aviation emissions rose 5.1 per cent and maritime shipping 1.4 per cent as both sectors continued their post-pandemic recovery.
Land use was a net source of about 0.9 gigatonnes, or 1.6 per cent of global emissions, partly because of wildfires. Deforestation released 3.7 gigatonnes of CO2, more than twice what the global land sink absorbed. Wildfires added 2.2 gigatonnes, below the long-term average, although regional spikes were sharp. In Europe, the forest sink held at around 0.2 gigatonnes. Yet wildfire emissions there rose 40 per cent between 2024 and 2025.
What the numbers mean for COP31
The picture is one of divergence. Europe, Japan and the two largest Asian emitters are flat or falling. Meanwhile the United States, Türkiye and Gulf producers are pulling the total up. Because EDGAR feeds the UNEP Emissions Gap Report and the IPCC assessments, these figures will frame the talks in Türkiye.
The global rise came despite cuts in six of the 16 largest emitters. Even so, the direction is clear enough. Global emissions have yet to peak, and each year of growth adds to the cuts required later.
