Global emissions are presented to us in so many different ways, with 'America is the highest emitter of greenhouse gasses' but 'China emitting the most carbon'. I thought this post should debunk some of the confusion and look at different countries' climate change inputs and what they're doing about it.
It's not always as clear cut as being part of the problem or the solution.
Unfortunately we are all part of the problem, both historically and currently. There are ways in which each country could be seen as the most responsible for climate change, but let's look at the facts.
USA - Top Trump or Independent Business Idol?
• It has recently been reported that after years of decline, the US carbon footprint is rising. US energy related greenhouse gas emissions rose by 3.4% in 2018.
• Trump replaced Obama’s Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy plan which will allow individual states to set their own GHG targets for coal plants, rather than the Federal Government enforcing these limits. These rules are much weaker than Obama’s previous provisions and the Environmental Protection Agency state that they will lead to more than 1,400 premature deaths and nearly 50,000 new cases of asthma per year, due to the increased air pollution.
• The Federal Government are pushing policies that are set to increase emissions, like freezing fuel efficiency standards.
• Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement (175 parties globally working to keep global temperature ‘well below’ +2°C above pre-industrial levels.
However...
• Independent businesses, US States and consumer groups have signed We’re Still In! and pledged to keep business policy within UNFCCC (Kyoto & the Paris Agreement’s) regulations, to decrease emissions.
• Non-federally, initiatives have been set up like the US Climate Alliance who strive to operate within the Paris Agreement’s limits. They explain“We are almost halfway to the original U.S. target under the Paris Agreement of 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.”
China - the World's factory
· China are the World's biggest emitter of GHGs and have been for the last 10 years· China is the biggest emitter of GHGs per unit of GDP.
· Top the World Health organisation’s list for deadly outdoor pollution, with over 1 million deaths due to dirty air from cars, power plants and other sources.
Buuuuut...
· China are the biggest investors in renewable energy globally.
Others
· Australia has the highest GHG emissions per capita (per person, I had to check that too).
· The World Health Organisation’s list of most polluted found that 11 out of 12 of the most polluted cities, are in India.
· Historically, the UK was a major carbon emitter.
You can see each country has its issues and can be seen to be the World’s worst polluter in one way or another. China’s population, being 1.5 billion, brings their per capita emissions down and places Australia, closely followed by USA, as the biggest culprits.
It doesn’t matter how we got here, what matters now is that we collectively work to reduce emissions and negate the effects that climate change will bring.
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