Global greenhouse gas emissions have reached a new all-time high. In 2025 they rose to 55 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, also considering land use, changes in land use and forests (Lulucf), with an increase of 0.9% compared to the previous year. Excluding Lulucf, emissions reached 54.1 billion tons, 0.7% more than in 2024.
It is the photograph of the new GHG Emissions of All World Countries 2026 report, created by the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission in collaboration with the International Energy Agency (IEA) based on Edgar data. The data confirms that, after the decline linked to the pandemic, the global trajectory still remains oriented upwards: in 2025 emissions, excluding those linked to land use, increased by approximately 380 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Behind the new record, however, very different dynamics are hidden. China, the United States, India, the European Union, Russia and Indonesia remain the world's six largest emitters and together are responsible for 62% of global emissions, despite representing just over half of the planet's population. They also concentrate 63% of global consumption of fossil fuels.
China remains clearly in first place with 29.5% of global emissions, but in 2025 growth has practically stopped: +0.1%, equal to approximately 9.6 million tonnes. The United States, which represents 11.1% of the world total, instead recorded the largest increase among the large economies: +2.2%, equal to 131.5 million tonnes. India, the third emitter with a share of 8.3%, reduced emissions by 0.2%.
The European Union is also bucking the trend. Emissions from the Twenty-Seven decreased by 0.2% in 2025, reaching approximately 3.1 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The weight of the EU on the world total has thus fallen to 5.8%, compared to around 15% in 1990. Since then, European emissions have reduced overall by 35.6%, the most marked contraction among the main economies considered by the report.
Within the EU, Italy is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases. With 11.3% of European emissions it ranks behind Germany (21.1%) and France (12.1%) and just ahead of Poland (11.1%) and Spain (9.4%). The five countries together produce almost two thirds of the EU's emissions. But our country's long-term trajectory is downwards: in 2025 emissions stopped at around 354 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, 30% less than in 1990 and 39% less than in 2005. The decline was strongest in electricity production (-51% since 1990) and in industry (-47%). Transport, however, remains the critical point: despite the reduction compared to 2005, its emissions are still 8% higher than 1990 levels.
However, the European picture remains uneven across sectors. In 2025, the largest reduction in absolute terms came from transport, -0.9%, while waste recorded the largest percentage drop, -1.7%. Emissions from electricity production remained essentially stable, while they increased by 1% in buildings and by 0.5% in industrial combustion.
On a global scale, the electricity sector offers one of the few positive signs. In 2025, emissions increased in all main sectors except electricity and heat production, where they decreased by 0.3%, equal to 51 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. However, power remains the world's leading emitting sector, responsible for almost 30% of the total.
CO2 continues to dominate the global climate balance. In 2025 it represented 73.8% of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly due to the combustion of fossil fuels. Methane accounts for 17.6%, nitrous oxide for 5.3% and fluorinated gases for 3.3%. Since 1990, global emissions of fossil CO2 have increased by 76.3%, those of methane by 32.7% and those of nitrous oxide by 47.6%.
An increasingly relevant chapter then concerns land use and forests. In 2025, the Lulucf sector was a net source of approximately 900 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent globally. Forest biomass has absorbed around 5.5 billion tonnes of CO2, but deforestation has released around 3.7 billion. The fires produced another 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, less than the long-term average, but with strong regional differences.
Europe itself recorded a resurgence of fires in 2025: emissions linked to the fires rose from around 5 to 7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in a year. At the same time, the absorption capacity of the European forestry sector has weakened compared to the past, although it continues to represent an important net carbon sink.
The picture that emerges from the report therefore remains divergent. The EU continues to reduce emissions and its share of the world total, while growth has not yet stopped at a global level. Since 1990, anthropogenic emissions have increased on average by 1.5% per year and in 2025 they are 68.5% higher than 35 years before.
