Atmospheric emissions in Russia by year: complete statistics and charts
In 2025, 21,193 thousand tons of pollutants were emitted into the atmospheric air of Russia. Of these, 16,593 thousand tons came from stationary sources, i.e., factories, boiler houses, and flares, and 4,600 thousand tons from mobile sources, mainly transport. Per capita, this is about 145 kg per year. Emissions from factories are declining: minus 20% compared to the peak of 2007. Rosstat data.
Below is the complete series since 2000, an explanation of the sharp drop in the curve in 2019 (which is methodological, not real), a breakdown by federal districts, and interactive charts.
Atmospheric emissions by year
Thousand tons, Russian Federation.
| Year | Total | Stationary | Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 32,301 | 18,820 | 13,481 |
| 2005 | 35,835 | 20,425 | 15,410 |
| 2007 | 35,532 | 20,637 | 14,895 |
| 2010 | 32,353 | 19,116 | 13,237 |
| 2014 | 31,228 | 17,452 | 13,776 |
| 2018 | 32,327 | 17,068 | 15,259 |
| 2019 | 22,735 | 17,295 | 5,440 |
| 2020 | 22,228 | 16,952 | 5,276 |
| 2021 | 22,300 | 17,208 | 5,092 |
| 2022 | 22,205 | 17,174 | 5,031 |
| 2023 | 21,976 | 16,952 | 5,024 |
| 2024 | 22,075 | 17,092 | 4,983 |
| 2025 | 21,193 | 16,593 | 4,600 |
The peak for a quarter of a century occurred in 2005: 35,835 thousand tons. After that, the series goes down with two interruptions, in 2016–2018 and in 2021. The complete set since 2000 is available in the interactive dataset.
Why the curve breaks in 2019
Between 2018 and 2019, emissions from mobile sources drop from 15,259 to 5,440 thousand tonnes, which is almost threefold in a single year. No real-world cause can produce such a drop: the vehicle fleet does not change threefold in a year.
The calculation methodology changed: starting from 2019, emissions from mobile sources are estimated differently, and in the dataset itself, the series is broken precisely at this boundary. The bottom line for the reader: the values before and after 2019 are incomparable, and the conclusion "emissions fell by a third over ten years" based on the "total" row would be incorrect.
Across the 2019 boundary, one can only compare emissions from stationary sources: they are calculated based on enterprise reporting, and the method has not changed.
Emissions from factories and boiler houses
Stationary sources provide the longest comparable series.
The peak was passed in 2007: 20,637 thousand tonnes. By 2025, the figure fell to 16,593, which is 20% below the peak and 12% below the level of 2000. The decline was uneven: in 2012, there was a local rise to 19,630 thousand tonnes, after which the series went below 18,000 and has since remained in the corridor of 16,600–17,300.
The share of stationary sources in the total volume rose from 58.3% in 2000 to 78.3% in 2025. Most of this jump is again methodological: it occurs in 2019, when the transport component was recalculated.
Road Transport by Region
A separate series on road transport has been maintained since 2019 within the set of indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals. In Russia, emissions fell from 5,291 thousand tons in 2019 to 4,461 in 2025, which is a decrease of 15.7% over six years.
Regions with the largest emissions from road transport for 2025, thousand tons:
- Moscow: 306.9
- Novosibirsk Oblast: 261.9
- Krasnoyarsk Krai: 201.1
- Sverdlovsk Oblast: 170.2
- Moscow Oblast: 169.5
- Stavropol Krai: 140.7
- Saint Petersburg: 134.6
The Central District accounts for 963.0 thousand tons out of 4,461, which is a fifth of all road emissions in the country. Data for each region can be found in the road transport dataset.
Questions and Answers
How much total is emitted into the atmosphere in Russia per year?
21,193 thousand tons of pollutants for 2025. This is the sum of stationary and mobile sources according to the methodology in effect since 2019.
Are emissions in Russia rising or falling?
They are falling, but slowly. For stationary sources, where the series is comparable across all twenty-six years, there is a minus 12% compared to 2000. Year-on-year, there is sometimes growth: 2024 yielded 17,092 thousand tons against 16,952 in 2023.
What share of emissions comes from transport?
According to the current methodology, about 22% of the total volume (4,600 out of 21,193 thousand tons for 2025). Before 2019, transport was credited with almost half, but this was the result of a different calculation method.
What is classified as stationary sources?
Everything that does not move: chimneys of power plants and boiler houses, technological units of factories, flares at fields, storage facilities. Reporting is submitted by the enterprises themselves.
Where can I find data for my region?
For road transport, in the dataset above: there is a row for each region and each federal district. For stationary sources, the breakdown is published in the environmental section of the catalogue.
In brief
Atmospheric emissions in Russia for 2025: 21.2 million tonnes, of which 16.6 million were from stationary sources. The peak for factories was passed in 2007, with a 20% decrease since then. The transport component of the series prior to 2019 is incomparable with the subsequent period: the methodology was recalculated, and the drop from 15.3 to 5.4 million tonnes in a single year reflects a change in the formula, not a change in reality. Emissions from road transport have decreased by 15.7% since 2019, with a fifth of the total occurring in the Central Federal District.