Bangladesh's emissions are small per person but nearly tripled since 1990 — and over four-tenths of them are not CO₂

Introduction

Bangladesh emitted 220.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases (measured as carbon-dioxide equivalent, excluding land use and forestry) in 2024, up from 74.9 million tonnes in 1990 — a rise of 2.9 times.¹ Most public debate about the country’s emissions concerns power stations and coal. That matters, but it describes only part of the picture: 42% of the total is not carbon dioxide at all, but methane and nitrous oxide, gases that come largely from rice fields, livestock, fertiliser and waste.²³⁴

1.27 tonnes

Greenhouse gases emitted per person in Bangladesh in 2024 — about a fifth of the world average of 6.54 tonnes.

These are modelled estimates from the European Commission’s EDGAR database, not national inventory counts, and they use the global-warming potentials in the IPCC’s fifth assessment report.¹ They are best read as a guide to scale and proportion rather than as exact tonnages.

A change of leader

In 1990 Bangladesh’s emissions were a farming-country profile: methane supplied 48.3 million tonnes, or about 65% of the total, carbon dioxide only 14.8 million tonnes (20%) and nitrous oxide 11.8 million tonnes (16%).²³⁴

By 2024 the order had reversed. Carbon dioxide had grown 8.4-fold to 124.2 million tonnes, 56% of the total, as gas, coal and oil were burned for electricity, factories and transport.³ Methane rose far more slowly, by 46% to 70.5 million tonnes (32%), and nitrous oxide roughly doubled to 23.3 million tonnes (11%).²⁴ Fluorinated gases account for the small remainder of about 3 million tonnes, which we calculate as the difference between the total and the three gases.

Since the pandemic year of 2020, when total emissions were 202.7 million tonnes, the increase has come entirely from carbon dioxide: it rose from 104.1 to 124.2 million tonnes while methane edged down from a peak of 75.0 million tonnes in 2022 to 70.5 million in 2024.¹²³

Small per person, large in total

Measured per person, Bangladesh is among the lowest emitters in its region. Dividing each country’s 2024 total by its population, Bangladesh’s 1.27 tonnes compares with 1.40 in Nepal, 1.70 in Sri Lanka, 2.09 in Pakistan, 3.01 in India, 4.67 in Indonesia and 5.79 in Viet Nam.¹⁵

That low figure reflects low incomes and low energy use, not an advantage that can be taken for granted. Because the population is large, the total of 221 million tonnes is still substantial, and the national figure has risen as electricity and industry have expanded.

Where the other gases come from

Agriculture is the dominant source of the non-CO₂ gases. In 2024 farming accounted for 47.4 of Bangladesh’s 70.5 million tonnes of methane (67%) and 17.9 of its 23.3 million tonnes of nitrous oxide (77%).⁶⁷ The World Bank’s indicator definitions list methane sources in agriculture as livestock (digestion and manure) and crops, including rice cultivation and the burning of crop residues.⁶ Together, agricultural methane and nitrous oxide came to 65.3 million tonnes, about 30% of all greenhouse gases the country emitted.

Fertiliser use per hectare of arable land rose from 99 kg in 1990 to 399 kg in 2024 (FAO data via the World Bank),⁸ which coincides with nitrous oxide from farming almost doubling, from 9.6 to 17.9 million tonnes over the same years.⁷ The data cannot by themselves show how much of that rise is due to fertiliser, and the EDGAR figures are modelled from activity data rather than measured in paddies.

The remaining 23.0 million tonnes of methane and 5.4 million tonnes of nitrous oxide come from outside agriculture; the series used here do not split them further.²⁴⁶⁷

Why the mix matters

Two features of this profile shape the policy question.

First, the sources are different, so the fixes are different. Carbon dioxide comes mainly from burning fuel, and cutting it means changing how electricity, industry and transport are powered. Methane and nitrous oxide come from biological processes in farming, so they depend on how rice is irrigated, how livestock are fed and how fertiliser is applied — and on the livelihoods of farmers, who cannot be asked simply to produce less food.

Second, the trends point in opposite directions. Carbon dioxide is on a steep upward path, while total methane has fallen since its 2022 peak. Policy that concentrates only on the fastest-growing gas may overlook that, in aggregate, methane and nitrous oxide still come to around 94 million tonnes a year — about 75% of the carbon dioxide total.¹²³⁴

What it will take

• Count all the gases. National targets and monitoring should report methane and nitrous oxide separately from carbon dioxide, with the same attention, because together they are 42% of the total.
• Target the farm sources already identified. Agriculture produces two-thirds of methane and over three-quarters of nitrous oxide, so rice cultivation, livestock and fertiliser use are the places to look first; each option should be tested for its effect on yields and farm incomes before it is scaled.
• Decarbonise the fastest-growing source. Carbon dioxide accounts for all the growth since 2020, and power plants are its largest source, so the pace of change in the electricity mix will largely decide the national trend.
• Measure better. Modelled global estimates are a start; field measurements in Bangladeshi paddies and a regularly updated national inventory would let policymakers track whether interventions work.
• Keep per-person emissions in view. With energy use per person still low, the aim is to expand electricity, industry and food production without repeating the high-emission path of richer neighbours.