Dirty deeds: The world's biggest polluters by country
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Bad news for the environment.
After years of decline, US carbon dioxide emissions increased slightly last year, according to a new report by the US Energy Information Administration.
That said, America is still a little better than the world's worst polluter: China.
The 2 percent jump in CO2 emissions in the United
States was largely the result of higher natural gas prices last year,
which prompted some utilities to switch back to a dirtier energy source —
coal, according to The Washington Post.
More from GlobalPost: Calamity Calling: A GlobalPost investigation into global climate change
America's CO2 emissions had fallen 12 percent from 2007 to 2012 before the latest report.
Here, we take a look at the world's five biggest polluters, according to CO2 emission estimates in 2012 from the EU-based Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research.
1. China
This picture from January 2013 shows two men walking in Beijing's dense smog. (AFP/Getty Images)
China overtook the United States as the world's biggest carbon dioxide polluter in 2006, and has topped the list ever since.
In 2012, the communist country pumped an estimated
9.8 billion tons of CO2 into the world's atmosphere from the burning of
fossil fuels such as oil and coal. And while emissions grew
at a slower pace in 2012 than previous years, China still accounted for
70 percent of the global increase in CO2 emissions that year.
China's smog levels are notorious. But air pollution is soaring to new heights due to the country's rapid industrialization, reliance on coal power and increased car ownership for a booming population.
It doesn't help that environmental laws are often ignored, according to green activists.
2. United States
Morning commuters travel the 210 freeway near Pasadena, Calif. (David McNew/AFP/Getty Images)
As stated above, America's carbon dioxide emissions
had been going down for years. The decline can be partly attributed to
the economic recession, improved energy efficiency, and the shale-gas
boom.
Emissions reached a 20-year low of just under 5.2 billion metric tons in 2012.
But new figures show CO2 emissions actually increased 2 percent in 2013 as more utilities turned to coal for energy after a steep rise in natural gas prices.
Emissions are still 10
percent below 2005 levels, but they were once down 12 percent. The
Obama administration set a goal of being 17 percent below 2005 levels by
2020.
Suddenly, that goal looks like a steeper climb.
3. India
Indian commuters walk up a foot bridge in New Delhi on Jan. 31, 2013. (Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images)
India's carbon dioxide emissions shot up 7.7 percent in 2012, with those from coal growing at an even faster pace of 10.2 percent.
That despite the South Asian country recording its lowest GDP growth — 4 percent — in a decade.
One in three Indians currently live in
"critically-polluted" areas. And of the 180 cities monitored by India's
Central Pollution Control Board, just two — Malapuram and
Pathanamthitta in Kerala — have what are considered "low" levels of air pollution.
4. Russia
A Russian woman wears a face mask to protect herself from smoke in Moscow. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images)
Russia's carbon dioxide emissions plunged
after the collapse of Soviet-era smokestack industries, but it remains
the world's fourth largest CO2 polluter at 1.7 billion metric tons in
2012.
Hundreds of cities currently exceed pollution
limits, with Moscow, St. Petersburg and the far-northern Siberian city
of Norilsk among the worst offenders.
Two cities — Norilsk and the central Russian city of
Dzerzhinsk — made the environmental group Blacksmith Institute's list
of the world's most polluted places this year.
5. Japan
The suffocating smog that blanketed swathes of China hit parts of Japan in March 2013. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images)
Japan recently watered down its target to cut carbon dioxide emissions despite the 1.3 million metric tons of CO2 it produced in 2012.
The new target, announced in November, reverses course
from a goal set four years ago and now allows a 3.1 percent increase in
emissions from 1990 levels rather than seeking a 25 percent cut.
It reflects the country's increased reliance on fossil fuels in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
List of countries by 2013 emissions estimates
EDGAR (database created by European Commission and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency) released 2013 estimates. The following table lists the 2013 annual CO2 emissions estimates (in thousands of CO2 tonnes) along with a list of emissions per capita (in tonnes of CO2 per year) from same source.| Country | CO2 emissions (kt)[12] | Emission per capita (t)[12] |
|---|---|---|
| World | 35,270,000 | - |
 China |
10,330,000 | 7.4 |
 United States |
5,300,000 | 16.6 |
 European Union |
3,740,000 | 7.3 |
 India |
2,070,000 | 1.7 |
 Russia |
1,800,000 | 12.6 |
 Japan |
1,360,000 | 10.7 |
| International transport | 1,070,000 | - |
 Germany |
840,000 | 10.2 |
 South Korea |
630,000 | 12.7 |
 Canada |
550,000 | 15.7 |
 Indonesia |
510,000 | 2.6 |
 Saudi Arabia |
490,000 | 16.6 |
 Brazil |
480,000 | 2.0 |
 United Kingdom |
480,000 | 7.5 |
 Mexico |
470,000 | 3.9 |
 Iran |
410,000 | 5.3 |
 Australia |
390,000 | 16.9 |
 Italy |
390,000 | 6.4 |
 France |
370,000 | 5.7 |
 South Africa |
330,000 | 6.2 |
 Poland |
320,000 | 8.5 |
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