“Using our newly updated global emissions data through 2019, we estimate that in 2019, for the first time since national greenhouse gas emissions have been measured, China’s annual emissions exceeded those of all developed countries combined,” the report states. “China’s emissions were less than a quarter of developed country emissions in 1990, but over the past three decades have more than tripled, reaching over 14 gigatons of CO2-equivalent in 2019.”
Though China's overall emissions have soared, however, the U.S. continues to be the world's leader in emissions per capita. The report also notes that the climate crisis did not arise overnight, and that while China's emissions have overtaken those of the rest of the world's industrialized nations, other countries share considerable blame for rising global temperatures.
