Top 5 Carbon Footprint Producing Countries in the World

We are living in a tech age where we are completely dependent on technological advancements and cannot do many things manually. From washing clothes to beating the eggs for cakes, we are dependent on electronic tools. But we don’t imagine how much of carbon footprint are we generating on everyday basis.

Carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon and other greenhouse gases (methane) we are generating by our daily activities. Even sending emails also generate carbon. As per the recent reports from Global Carbon Project, published in December 2021, China is the biggest carbon dioxide producer in the world. It is followed by USA, India, Russia and Japan.

In 2018, China produced 10.06 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. This basic CO2 is coming from fossil fuel (coal). In 2019, the major pollution in China came from burnt coals in the industrial areas by about 58%. China is the largest importer of oil, that’s why the emission of CO2 is majorly coming from vehicles.

United States is emitted 5.41 billion metric tons of CO2 in 2018. In 2020, though half of the year manufacturing plants and industries were locked down due to present pandemic (COVID19) still the transportation and industrial areas produced a significant amount of carbon. US economy is heavily dependent on transportation by road, sea and air, that’s why carbon dioxide level is high.

With the production of about 2.65 billion metric tons of carbon, India is standing at the third position in terms of producing carbon dioxide worldwide. As India, is progressing with urbanisation and industrialisation, that’s why use of fossil fuel, like, coal and oil are increasing. Coal is the basic ingredient for electricity production in India, so carbon emission is quite high now. In 2015, India produced 75% of the electricity from coal.

In 2018, Russia produced 1.71 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. Coal is widely used in the Russian industries. But now they are switching to nuclear power and other renewable energy sources. Solar and wind energy is getting popular over there nowadays with great experts.

In the 5th position, Japan produced 1.16 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2018. Japan is a heavy user of natural gas and coal to produce electricity for their country. After the nuclear reactors hazard in Fukushima in 2011, the dependability on fossil fuel increased in Japan. As they are planning to open more nuclear power plants in future so there’s a huge possibility of stabilising or minimising the production of carbon dioxide.

So for conclusion, I can simply say that we are all standing at a very alarming position, in terms of producing carbon dioxide. In my next post, I will discuss how can we reduce the carbon dioxide emission. Remember that, with baby steps you can bring up the radical change and can make your planet a better place to live.