Global greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb steadily upward, despite all the fancy climate summits and bold promises. Recent data shows a mixed but generally dismal picture: February 2025 emissions totaled 5.04 billion tonnes CO2e, with only a minuscule 0.47% drop from last year—and that’s just because February 2025 had fewer days! The year-to-date figures show global emissions at 10.32 billion tonnes. Not exactly the dramatic cuts we keep hearing about.
Sure, there were tiny declines in January and December 2024—the first monthly drops since COVID lockdowns artificially slashed emissions. But let’s not kid ourselves. The big picture? Global emissions jumped 1.3% in 2024 compared to 2023, hitting a whopping 53.2 Gt CO2eq. Since 1990, emissions have ballooned by 65%. That’s roughly 1.5% every single year for three decades. Progress? Hardly.
The usual suspects continue their carbon spree. China, still the emissions king, pumped out 1.47 billion tonnes CO2e just in February 2025. The United States managed a pathetic 0.28% decline in January. Meanwhile, India’s emissions skyrocketed by 3.9% in 2024—the largest absolute increase globally. Russia and Indonesia aren’t far behind. Only the European Union and Japan showed meaningful reductions.
Transportation emissions are surging by 1.6% year over year. Fossil fuel operations contributed significantly to the problem with 870.79 million tonnes of CO2e in February 2025 alone. Manufacturing keeps climbing too. These emissions could reduce global GDP by 10% by 2050 if trends continue, devastating economies worldwide. Climate TRACE continues to release its comprehensive emissions data monthly with a 60-day lag. Some sectors like power generation are dropping, but not nearly enough to offset the increases elsewhere.
The atmospheric impact? CO2 levels reached 422.8 ppm in 2024, jumping 3.75 ppm in a single year—the biggest annual increase ever recorded. By June 2025, we’d already hit 430 ppm. The 2023-24 El Niño made things worse, with droughts and fires adding to the problem.
References
- https://climatetrace.org/news/climate-trace-releases-february-2025-emissions-data
- https://climatetrace.org/news/climate-trace-begins-monthly-data-releases-with-new
- https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/report_2025
- https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/world-emissions-hit-record-high-eu-leads-trend-reversal-2025-09-09_en
- https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide
- https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/state-and-trends-of-carbon-pricing
- https://science.nasa.gov/earth/explore/earth-indicators/carbon-dioxide/
- https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/global.html
