Six of the 16 major emitters reduced their emissions in 2025

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🗞️ Driving the news: Global greenhouse gas emissions hit a record 54 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2025, excluding land use, according to the European Commission's EDGAR database compiled with the IEA
• Six of the 16 major emitters, those contributing over 1% of the global total, cut emissions, including Australia, Brazil and Japan

🔭 The context: The six largest emitters — China, the US, India, the EU, Russia and Indonesia — accounted for 62% of the global total
• The US posted the largest absolute rise at +2.2%
• For the first time, China and India held or reduced their levels, at +0.1% and -0.2%
• The EU fell 0.2% against 2024, reaching a 35.6% reduction from 1990 and a 5.8% share of global emissions, with per capita emissions of 7.1 tonnes moving toward the global average of 6.6
• Türkiye recorded the highest relative increase at +4.2%, with notable rises in Iran and Saudi Arabia

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Land carbon sinks are weakening at the same moment gross emissions set records
• Deforestation released 3.7 Gt CO2 in 2025, more than double what the global LULUCF sink removed, leaving land use a net source of around 0.9 Gt CO2eq
• The EU's own forest sink now removes less than it did in 1990, with regional wildfire emissions up 40% between 2024 and 2025, showing that natural removal cannot be relied on to offset a rising emissions baseline

📈 One stat: 54 Gt CO2eq emitted in 2025, a record, and 0.7% above 2024

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