Carbon Emissions Counter Live

About 42.2 billion tonnes of CO₂ a year (Global Carbon Budget 2025): 38.1 billion tonnes from fossil fuels and cement, a record high, plus 4.1 billion tonnes from land-use change such as deforestation. That works out to roughly 1,338 tonnes every second, or 4.7 tonnes of fossil CO₂ per person.

About 1,338 tonnes every second, 80,300 tonnes a minute, 4.8 million tonnes an hour and 115.6 million tonnes a day. These figures spread the 2025 annual total of 42.2 billion tonnes evenly across the year.

About 425.7 parts per million (ppm) on average in 2025, according to the Global Carbon Budget, 52% above the pre-industrial level of about 280 ppm. The level is rising by roughly 2–3 ppm a year and is higher than at any time in at least 2 million years. Today’s CO₂ level in detail.

Human-caused warming reached an estimated 1.37 °C above the 1850–1900 average in 2025 (Indicators of Global Climate Change). 2024 was the warmest year on record and the first calendar year above 1.5 °C, but the Paris Agreement limit refers to a 20-year average, so it has not been formally crossed yet.

The Global Carbon Budget 2025 puts the remaining budget for a 50% chance of 1.5 °C at 170 billion tonnes of CO₂ from the start of 2026: about four years at today’s emissions, so around early 2030. Another assessment (Indicators of Global Climate Change 2025) estimates 130 billion tonnes, closer to three years. The carbon budget explained.

China emits the most CO₂: 12.29 billion tonnes in 2024, 31.8% of the world total. The United States (4.90 billion tonnes) and India (3.19 billion tonnes) follow, and together the top three produce 53% of global fossil CO₂. See the full ranking of 213 countries.

Among countries with more than one million people, Qatar has the highest emissions per person at 41.3 tonnes a year, followed by Kuwait (26.2 t) and Bahrain (24.3 t). The world average is 4.7 tonnes; in the United States it is 14.2 t, in China 8.7 t and in India 2.2 t.

Since 1750, the United States has emitted the most fossil CO₂ (23.5% of the total), followed by China (15.4%) and Russia (6.6%). Historical totals matter because CO₂ stays in the atmosphere for centuries.

Burning fossil fuels: coal (41% of fossil CO₂ in 2024), oil (32%) and gas (21%), plus cement production (4%). By sector, electricity and heat are the biggest source, followed by industry and transport. Deforestation and other land-use change add about 4 billion tonnes a year.

CO₂ lets sunlight in but absorbs heat radiated by the Earth, so more of it warms the planet. Much of it stays in the atmosphere for centuries, which is why warming tracks total cumulative emissions: every 1,000 billion tonnes of CO₂ adds roughly 0.45 °C (IPCC).

A common unit for all greenhouse gases. Each gas is converted using its global warming potential over 100 years: methane traps about 27–30 times as much heat as CO₂ and nitrous oxide about 273 times. This counter shows CO₂ only; carbon footprints are usually given in CO₂e.

The biggest levers are usually flying less, driving less or switching to an electric car, heating with a heat pump in a well-insulated home, eating less red meat and choosing renewable electricity. Estimate your footprint in two minutes or see 15 ways to cut it, ranked.

No. No instrument measures the world’s emissions in real time. The counter spreads the Global Carbon Budget’s annual estimate evenly across the year, so it shows the expected running total, not a measurement. Fossil CO₂ estimates are accurate to about ±5%; land-use emissions are much less certain. How the counter works. Some emissions can be tracked in real time, such as electricity grids and large power plants: see real-time carbon tracking.

The counter ticks every second, and the figures behind it are updated once a year when the Global Carbon Budget is published, usually in November. Country data comes from Our World in Data and is refreshed at the same time.