March 26, 2026 -- Today, Climate TRACE reported that global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the month of January 2026 totaled 5.3 billion tonnes CO₂e. This represents an increase of 0.3% vs. January 2025. Global methane emissions in January 2026 were 33.5 million tonnes CH₄, a decrease of 1.3% vs. January 2025.
Data tables summarizing GHG and primary particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions totals by sector, country, and the top 100 urban areas for January 2026 are available for download here.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Country: January 2026

Climate TRACE's preliminary estimate of January 2026 emissions in China, the world's top emitting country, is 1.5 billion tonnes CO₂e, an increase of 4.1 million tonnes of CO₂e, or 0.3% vs. January 2025.

Of the other top five emitting countries:

• United States emissions declined by 11.8 million tonnes CO₂e, or 1.9% year over year;
• India emissions increased by 1.6 million tonnes CO₂e, or 0.4% year over year;
• Russia emissions declined by 1.6 million tonnes CO₂e, or 0.6% year over year;
• Indonesia emissions declined by 0.3 million tonnes CO₂e, or 0.2% year over year.
  In the EU, which as a bloc would be the fourth largest source of emissions in January 2026, emissions increased by 10.5 million tonnes CO₂e compared to January 2025, or 3.2%.

Data on all other countries are available in our Country Inventory.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector: January 2026

Greenhouse gas emissions increased in January 2026 vs. January 2025 in buildings, transportation, and waste, and decreased in fossil fuel operations, manufacturing, and power. Buildings saw the greatest change in emissions year over year, with emissions increasing by 3.6% as compared to January 2025.

• Agriculture emissions were 563.9 million tonnes CO₂e, unchanged vs. January 2025;
• Buildings emissions were 521.0 million tonnes CO₂e, a 3.6% increase vs. January 2025;
• Fluorinated gases emissions were 145.0 million tonnes CO₂e, unchanged vs. January 2025;
• Fossil fuel operations emissions were 830.5 million tonnes CO₂e, a 2.4% decrease vs. January 2025;
• Manufacturing emissions were 859.1 million tonnes CO₂e, a 0.1% decrease vs. January 2025;
• Mineral extraction emissions were 17.2 million tonnes CO₂e, unchanged vs. January 2025;
• Power emissions were 1,416.9 million tonnes CO₂e, a 0.4% decrease vs. January 2025;
• Transportation emissions were 792.3 million tonnes CO₂e, a 2.8% increase vs. January 2025;
• Waste emissions were 170.3 million tonnes CO₂e, a 0.2% increase vs. January 2025.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions by City: January 2026

The urban areas with the highest total GHG emissions in January 2026 were Shanghai, China; Tokyo, Japan; New York, United States; Los Angeles, United States; and Houston, United States.

The urban areas with the greatest increases in absolute emissions in January 2026 as compared to January 2025 were Anshan, China; Moscow, Russia; Fukuyama, Japan; Anpara, India; and UNNAMED, India. Those with the largest absolute emissions declines between this January and last January were Baotou, China; Songyuan, China; Louxing, China; Nagoya, Japan; and Cincinnati, United States.

The urban areas with the greatest increases in emissions as a percentage of their total emissions were Butibori, India; Karewa, Cameroon; Uruguaiana, Brazil; Chukai, Malaysia; and Sobradinho, Brazil. Those with the greatest decreases by percentage were Macherla, India; Iligan, Philippines; Monclova, México; Louxing, China; and Gushiegu, Ghana.

RELEASE NOTES

Revisions to existing Climate TRACE data are common and expected. They allow us to take the most up-to-date and accurate information into account. As new information becomes available, Climate TRACE will update its emissions totals (potentially including historical estimates) to reflect new data inputs, methodologies, and revisions.

With the addition of January 2026 data, the Climate TRACE database is now updated to version V5.5.0. This release includes updates to underlying data: the forestry sectors now use the 2024 Global Annual Burned Area Maps (GABAM), and 15 subsectors also updated to EDGAR V5.5.0 and FAOSTAT 2025. Other changes in this release include fixes to historical emissions in the mining and forestry sectors, as well as the removal of double counting of assets between iron and steel and the other metals subsectors.

A detailed description of data updates is available in our changelog here.

To learn more about what is included in our monthly data releases and for frequently asked questions, click here.

All methodologies for Climate TRACE data estimates are available to view and download here.

For any further technical questions about data updates, please contact: coalition@ClimateTRACE.org.

To sign up for monthly updates from Climate TRACE, click here.

Emissions data for February 2026 are scheduled for release on April 30, 2026.

About Climate TRACE

The Climate TRACE coalition was formed by a group of AI specialists, data scientists, researchers, and nongovernmental organizations. Current members include Carbon Yield; Carnegie Mellon University's CREATE Lab; CTrees; Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability; Earth Genome; Former Vice President Al Gore; Global Energy Monitor; Global Fishing Watch/emLab; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab; OceanMind; RMI; TransitionZero; and WattTime. Climate TRACE is also supported by more than 100 other contributing organizations and researchers, including key data and analysis contributors: Arboretica, Michigan State University, Ode Partners, Open Supply Hub, Saint Louis University's Remote Sensing Lab, and University of Malaysia Terengganu. For more information about the coalition and a list of contributors, click here.

Media Contacts

Fae Jencks and Nikki Arnone for Climate TRACE media@climatetrace.org