UN report: US drove 2025 emissions rise – power demand and coal
According to the UN Environment Programme's Emissions Gap Report 2026, US emissions rose by 133 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2025 – more than any other country. Global output was roughly flat.
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The United States recorded the largest absolute increase in greenhouse gas emissions of any country in 2025, about 133 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent more than the year before, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The finding comes from the Emissions Gap Report 2026, published on 21 October. The report cites higher electricity demand and a rebound in coal power as causes, the Associated Press reported. In total, 124 countries raised their emissions by a combined 189 million tonnes, about 70 percent of which came from the United States.
Globally, emissions in 2025 were roughly at the 2024 record level; the difference is too small to show a clear trend, Euronews reported. CO2 from burning coal, oil and gas rose slightly. Sixty-three countries, including most European nations, cut their emissions. Preliminary data show declines in India, Russia and the EU and increases in China and Indonesia; Turkey recorded the second-largest rise after the United States.
The 2025 figures are preliminary emission estimates, while the temperature values are model projections: under current policies the world is heading for about 2.8 degrees of warming by 2100, and for about 2.6 degrees if national climate pledges are fully implemented; so far the planet has warmed by about 1.4 degrees. UNEP says the outlook is worse than last year because of the formal US exit from the Paris Agreement and, according to co-author Anne Olhoff, upwardly revised historical emissions data. To get on a pathway back to 1.5 degrees, emissions would have to fall 18 percent from 2025 levels by 2030.