Global GHG emissions from fuel combustion remained relatively flat at 34.2 GtCO_2eq in 2019 after peaking at 34.3Gt in 2018. Data for 2020 show an unprecedented 5.8% decline in global CO₂ emissions1 as the COVID-19 pandemic slashed energy demand. 

Following the pattern of previous years, emissions in China kept increasing with a year-on-year growth of 1.7% in 2019. Conversely, emissions in the United States decreased by 3.4% in 2019, resuming the three-year decline that was briefly broken in 2018. Emissions in India barely decreased in 2019 after steady increases for many years. Finally, GHG emissions in the European Union continued on their downward trend, with a 4.9% year-on-year decrease.

Provisional data for 2020 points to declines in all the countries shown below. The United States and Germany led the way, with year-on-year declines of 9.7% and 9.1% respectively. GHG emissions also fell in Brazil (-6.2%), the Russian Federation (-5.2%) and Japan (-3.0%).