Which has higher food processing — emissions, Americas or China, mainland?

Americas, at 146,709 kt against 81,150 kt in China, mainland as of 2023.

What is the difference in food processing — emissions between Americas and China, mainland?

65,559 kt, with Americas ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Americas and China, mainland?

24 years are reported by both, from 2000 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as Food Processing — Emissions (CO2). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Americas vs China, mainland: Food Processing — Emissions

Americas

146,709 kt

in 2023

China, mainland

81,150 kt

in 2023

Americas rank

5th

China, mainland rank

3rd

Food Processing — Emissions over time

Americas
China, mainland

How they compare

Americas currently reports 146,709 kt against 81,150 kt in China, mainland, a difference of 65,559 kt.

That makes Americas's figure about 1.8 times China, mainland's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 24 shared years of data; in 2000 it was Americas ahead.

Americas ranks 5th and China, mainland ranks 3rd of 36 groups.

Across the 3 decades both report, Americas averaged higher in 2 and China, mainland in 1.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Americas	China, mainland	Difference	Ahead
2000s	129,859 kt	113,728 kt	16,131 kt	Americas
2010s	122,492 kt	131,376 kt	8,883 kt	China, mainland
2020s	142,610 kt	83,251 kt	59,359 kt	Americas

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher food processing — emissions, Americas or China, mainland?: Americas, at 146,709 kt against 81,150 kt in China, mainland as of 2023.
What is the difference in food processing — emissions between Americas and China, mainland?: 65,559 kt, with Americas ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Americas and China, mainland?: 24 years are reported by both, from 2000 to 2023.
How do Americas and China, mainland rank globally for food processing — emissions?: Americas ranks 5th and China, mainland ranks 3rd of 36 groups.
Where does this data come from?: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as Food Processing — Emissions (CO2). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Food Processing — Emissions (CO2)
Unit: kt
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage: 139 places, 3,693 data points, 1990–2023
Last refreshed: 13 August 2026

The FAOSTAT domain on Emissions from Pre- and post- agricultural production includes the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and related activity data, generated from pre- and post-agriculture production stages of the agri-food systems. Data are computed following the Tier 1 methods of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National greenhouse gas (GHG) Inventories (IPCC, 1996; 1997; 2000; 2002; 2006; 2014). The domain includes methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) emissions from the above activities as well as the aggregate fluorinated gases (F-gases) emissions. Estimates are available by country, with global coverage and are updated annually.The FAOSTAT domain disseminates information estimates of CH4, N2O, CO2 emissions, F-gases, their aggregates in CO2eq in units of kilotonnes (kt, or 10^6 kg), and the underlying activity data. CO2eq emissions are computed by using the IPCC Fifth Assessment report global warming potentials, AR5 (IPCC, 2014). Data are available for most countries and territories, for standard FAOSTAT regional aggregations, and for Annex I and non-Annex I country groups.