But there is good news too. Nearly every country in the west is using less co2 than before. Britain's carbon dioxide emissions peaked in 1971, and have declined by about 1/3rd since. Adoption of electric vehicles will accelerate the decline.
Most of the decline in the developed world's carbon emissions can be attributed manufacturing being outsourced to places like China and India, according to the Guardian After you take into account imports, Europe only reduced their carbon footprint by 1% between 1990 and 2008.
relessness: I don't think that's exactly true. If it were, that would mean that the industry in those areas would be decreasing and their economies collapsing. Companies aren't "leaving" the US or Europe so much as just not developing as much there
In addition, blaming a country importing goods for the way the manufacturer made it is just bad faith. The US government has no say over how China or India produce stuff, and therefore shouldn't be blamed for that. The whole argument of "rich countries shifting the blame" is just irrelevant and distracting us from the larger issue at hand of decreasing CO2 everywhere
exactly! I don't get how others don't understand this. As long as India, China, etc don't change their ways, it doesn't matter what the rest of the world does to combat climate change. Earth's doom is inevitable unless everyone is in on this.
nonsense. The only reason why India and China went upwards so much is because they massively increased production in general and the reason why western countries reduce is because their companies manufacture less and instead buy from asia.
If you really look at the shift towards climate friendly energy you'll quickly see that especially China isn't actually doing that poorly. If you look at the rise of renewable energy in China you'll see it's much bigger than the rise of fossil fuel.
The thing missed on China (and I'm not a fan of having to defend China) is that while their emissions have SOARED since 2000, they're investing more than the rest of the world combined into renewable energy. It's not all bad, and most projections have them peaking relatively soon.
But even if that is wrong, consider this: The US still emits about twice as much CO2 per capita as does China. We ALL need to clean up our act. But we're still far worse offenders than they are.
A lack of carbon footprint growth is progress worth celebrating, and the decreases are good on their own despite other growth. Instead of +186% China -14% USA, without steps made it could have been +186% China +56% USA or something.
Nuclear is the cleanest and safest form of power available. That includes solar and wind.
Consider the immense amount of mining that needs to happen to build out solar and wind capacity. How many people die working in these mines? How much of the Earth is destroyed for generations to build these mines? How much slave labor is used? How much gasoline is burned in all phases of the process?
And these solar panels and wind turbines have a very short lifespan. They need to be replaced continuously at immense cost. Nuclear is the only way to build a sustainable energy infrastructure which preserves any sort of human thriving.
Yes yes yes YES! I have been making this point to classmates for years... France produces so much cheap energy, in fact, that it garners millions every year by selling electricity to other countries because it has more than enough!
Yeah, does nobody understand that in many countries, the USA specifically, buying electric cars doesn't really matter, because their electricity comes from other fossil fuels at power plants? Not to mention how resource-intensive they are to build and wasteful they can be at this point in time.
Oxygen is also good, but too much of it can kill you.
The effects of excess CO2 (climate change, sea level rise, coral bleaching, ice melt etc etc etc) and so well linked and demonstrated that I can't believe we're still having this debate.
Without greenhouse gases (not only co2) the earth would be -18 C. However, it’s worth remembering that water vapor is an even better greenhouse gas than CO2, which makes the role of CO2 all the more important: by introducing a small increase of co2 to warm the air slightly, that warmer air can now hold more water vapor without condensing into clouds, priming the atmosphere for more dramatic warming.
Yes, but you lose while other parts of the world gain in emissions. That's why all of these climate change laws make no sense. Outsourcing companies to countries that can't handle environmental protection as well as us just so we don't feel guilty is stupid.
@CaoMaru. There are better ways to solve the crisis. I'd be very hesitant to give our current set of elites even more power. But let's compromise. Let's reduce emissions by exiling anyone who has ever flown on a private jet. We'll put them all onto a small island in the Pacific, where they can exist on subsistence farming, preventing them from doing even more damage than they've already done.
And if they used the jet to fly to a global warming conference, let's make sure the island is extra small.
Interesting article, and a great idea. I do think certain laws (such as ecocide) are important alongside that, but.......I'm definitely right behind the idea of exile.
No we don't. This should really be corrected by imported and exported CO2. And include CO2 generated by the transport on international trading routes. I don't think it does that.
Exactly. The West has not reduced its consumption of CO2. It just has outsourced its production abroad. Which is utterly stupid, because we are still living in the same planet.
The West definitely has reduced its consumption per capita at the very least. Improvements in fuel efficiency standards for cars and insulation for buildings have made a difference. Its not enough obviously, but lets not pretend that no progress has been made. And with the coming solar revolution, I think its possible that things will continue to improve, certain politicians non-withstanding.
Wealthy countries in the west are just outsourcing their industrial pollution to emerging countries, where they use the dirtiest energy on the planet. See it go down in the U.S. and Germany while China and India skyrockets, where they actually make all that green tech along with the rest of everything else we purchase and use. It IS a depressing quiz and there is no "good news" here.
The US is manufacturing more than ever, and doing so with far less carbon output than before. Let's not be defeatist and refuse to acknowledge the very real progress that has been made.
It disappointed me to find that Australia, my home country, wasn't on this list. Then, I checked the source only to find that we'd risen, among the kinds of China and Iran - and this broke my heart.
Well not that this has much to do with its CO2 emissions but yes, of course it is. A place which in the modern world still so severely restricts the liberty of half its population (women), and assassinates those who speak out against their archaic regime (Khashoggi for example) is certainly evil in my mind.
Wrong. Global warming exists on a a continuum. The more CO2 that gets pumped into the atmosphere, the worse things will be. Even if we can't completely prevent it, it is worthwhile to try to stop the worst-case scenarios.
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
Interesting figures. To put it into perspective, a look at emission per capita is helpful.
"The biggest absolute emissions come from China and the United States. In terms of CO2 emissions per capita, China is ranked only ranked 47th, at 7.5 metric tonnes per capita. The US is ranked 11th at 16.5 per capita and amongst countries with sizeable populations, has the highest CO2 emissions per capita. India is the third highest country in terms of absolute emissions, but only 158th in terms of per capita output with 1.7 metric tonnes per capita."
So thinking about China or India, right now still pretty low in the per-capita-ranks, continuing their speedy economic growth, is kind of worrying. On the other hand, looking at the US as the worst polluter per capita and comparing them to the likes of UK, there is huge room for improvement.
Here's a per-capita quiz. The U.S. uses a lot. Unfortunately, since China's population is so much larger, even if the U.S. went to zero, it wouldn't be enough to fix the problem. Since China is unlikely to seriously care about global warming, there is only one way out of this crisis. Develop technology that actively removes CO2 from the atmosphere. If the west cuts emissions by 5% or 25%, or even 100%, it simply isn't enough.
I actually wouldn't be that pessimistic about China considering that they've recently a goal to reach net zero by 2060 (although of course this is a recent development and Jenenser and Quizmaster didn't know about it at the time).
I'm not completely optimistic about the outlook right now, but I'm becoming more hopeful for what the coming decade can accomplish. It seems that developed and developing countries alike are becoming serious about capping CO2 emissions and investing in clean energy. Also, as terrible as the pandemic is, it's cast a spotlight on how governments can use science and data to respond to global crises, and the coming economic recovery will probably go hand in hand with restructuring national economies so that they can use more clean energy. The election of Joe Biden will also probably help, considering he's pledged very serious action on climate change.
South Koreans don't really put environment high on a list of priorities, especially in politics. It's always economy and jobs. The government also blames China for most of their environmental problems, especially air pollution, which while is partly true, helps people to falsely think their country has no blame and little recourse, thus postponing attempts to seriously improve things.
After trying a number of countries, I just started going with larger ones (both by area and population), which is what almost every answer ended up being.
It's nice seeing that the US has decreased emissions by a significant amount. I feel like climate news tends to blame America for everything... and while it's certainly true America could probably be doing more, a 20% decrease is better than I expected. And on the other hand, I've heard that Germany was a leader in clean energy, and yet they are in roughly the same place as the US percentage-wise.
And as I said above, the Biden administration will take serious action on this (especially if Democrats control the Senate), so there's good reason to except CO2 emissions to decrease even more in the coming years.
The country is extracting and refining less oil than ever since the early years of oil exploitation, so the decrease is logical, however we are seeing an unprecedented amount of oil spills, fires and gas leaks, far more than when the country produced 6 times what it produces now, add to that massive deforestation in national parks do to state sponsored mining activities, and yes, it is all for the wrong reasons. All the pollution without even the excuse of development/economy.
Most of Europe's cuts has been moving their industry outside of their own territories. Like the United Kingdom might have cut their carbon emission by 39% since year 2000, but if you count everything that the United Kingdom imports and consumes, they've realistically only cut about 0.7%.
With our current economic system, capitalism, it is impossible to fight climate change and have economic growth at the same time. As to have economic growth, you need to sell more stuff, and it's the production of all that stuff that is pushing humanity to it's extinction.
Only the system of capitalism can change the industry from fossil to eco friendly fuels. We can chose what we buy and if we buy the products that do not come from places that use fossil fuels than it will be solved.
The primary motive of industries in Capitalism is to expand and maximize profit. We cannot transition to renewables cannot be done as fossil fuels are far more profitable than alternative renewable energies.
ExxonMobil's private research 50 years ago predicted climate change and we never knew because there are billions to be made from selling fossil fuels.
The answer to this issue is the transition from capitalism to a system where people's interests are prioritized rather than private capital. Some (myself included) believe that the answer is socialism.
Hard not to feel defeatist about all this. When Konstantin Kisin gave his now viral speech at Oxford, his suggestion that poor nations will be the ones deciding what happens with the climate seems to be steeped in truth. China + India alone is responsible for 4x more carbon gains than all of the top 10 nations lost combined. They have 0 incentive to care about the environment. None at all. Not saying that we shouldn't care in the West, but i'm also saying that maybe we shouldn't completely wreck our collective economies to do the equivalent of emptying a bucket of water from the Titanic.
You do realise that the main reason why India+China is so high up is that they account for such a high percentage of the world's population right? And being an Indian, I can tell you that the government is making steps towards going green. We've opened up several large solar farms in the past 3-4 years and wind energy is starting to become quite high.
As many people have mentioned before, the West isn't really doing as much, because they're outsourcing production to Asia. And I personally find it very funny how some people blame India for it's carbon footprint, when for 200 years until 1947, the West exploited India if all of its resources and prevented it from developing in any way possible, and then when we finally have some economic development (which also helps the West, because we produce your stuff), we get blamed for killing the planet. I agree that India and other countries should be doing more, but you sitting on a high horse and judging India is a bit embarassing for you.
Everyone on here saying the east is so bad because the west outsources??? That may be a part of it but how can anyone deny that the biggest issue in 3rd world countries (like India) is the fact they couldn't care less about C02 emissions so they will continue to dump their trash in the rivers and will continue to not recycle, not to mention all the coal they burn in the east, etc. But yeah... it's totally because we outsource production... smh. Just admit that the west is helping way more than the rest of the world when it comes to saving the planet.
No one thinks that the West isn't doing anything. It definitely is helping, no questioning it. But criticizing the East for finally being able to get some economic development and set up a functioning society and economy is a very ignorant thing to do. Like I mentioned in another comment, I can speak for India when I say that we are doing our best to produce cleaner energy. But enough of this blaming the east and saying "oH thE ThiRd WorLD CounTRIes thAT wE ExploiTEd anD cOloNisEd aRe ruInINg tHe plAnEt." We were unable to do anything by ourselves until the 1950s. Until 2000, we were one of the poorest and worst countries. Past is past, I agree, no point in dwelling in it. But that doesn't mean that the West isn't responsible for it. I hope you understand where I am coming from, because I have seen a few comments with people saying "Oh if the poor countries are not going to help, then we shouldn't either." It's a very misinformed and condescending thing to say, since it's not true
We're trying our best here too, so don't make stupid comments about pursuing economic development over being sustainable when it isn't our fault (technically your ancestor's fault but hey, I'm not blaming anyone for that, and past is past) that we aren't as developed as the West. (Plus don't forget to factor in populations)
In addition, blaming a country importing goods for the way the manufacturer made it is just bad faith. The US government has no say over how China or India produce stuff, and therefore shouldn't be blamed for that. The whole argument of "rich countries shifting the blame" is just irrelevant and distracting us from the larger issue at hand of decreasing CO2 everywhere
If you really look at the shift towards climate friendly energy you'll quickly see that especially China isn't actually doing that poorly. If you look at the rise of renewable energy in China you'll see it's much bigger than the rise of fossil fuel.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/960418/china-total-production-of-clean-energy/
In the end people blame China and India because they can't read statistics
But even if that is wrong, consider this: The US still emits about twice as much CO2 per capita as does China. We ALL need to clean up our act. But we're still far worse offenders than they are.
Consider the immense amount of mining that needs to happen to build out solar and wind capacity. How many people die working in these mines? How much of the Earth is destroyed for generations to build these mines? How much slave labor is used? How much gasoline is burned in all phases of the process?
And these solar panels and wind turbines have a very short lifespan. They need to be replaced continuously at immense cost. Nuclear is the only way to build a sustainable energy infrastructure which preserves any sort of human thriving.
The effects of excess CO2 (climate change, sea level rise, coral bleaching, ice melt etc etc etc) and so well linked and demonstrated that I can't believe we're still having this debate.
And if they used the jet to fly to a global warming conference, let's make sure the island is extra small.
Now: Asia produce, Europe and Asia gain
China has less than half the per capita emissions of the US(same source as the quiz). It has invested the highest into green, renewable energies.
It leads the world in rates of afforestation.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-where-afforestation-is-taking-place-around-the-world/
Cince 1990 emissions dropped 4 times
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
"The biggest absolute emissions come from China and the United States. In terms of CO2 emissions per capita, China is ranked only ranked 47th, at 7.5 metric tonnes per capita. The US is ranked 11th at 16.5 per capita and amongst countries with sizeable populations, has the highest CO2 emissions per capita. India is the third highest country in terms of absolute emissions, but only 158th in terms of per capita output with 1.7 metric tonnes per capita."
https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/10296/economics/top-co2-polluters-highest-per-capita/
So thinking about China or India, right now still pretty low in the per-capita-ranks, continuing their speedy economic growth, is kind of worrying. On the other hand, looking at the US as the worst polluter per capita and comparing them to the likes of UK, there is huge room for improvement.
I'm not completely optimistic about the outlook right now, but I'm becoming more hopeful for what the coming decade can accomplish. It seems that developed and developing countries alike are becoming serious about capping CO2 emissions and investing in clean energy. Also, as terrible as the pandemic is, it's cast a spotlight on how governments can use science and data to respond to global crises, and the coming economic recovery will probably go hand in hand with restructuring national economies so that they can use more clean energy. The election of Joe Biden will also probably help, considering he's pledged very serious action on climate change.
And as I said above, the Biden administration will take serious action on this (especially if Democrats control the Senate), so there's good reason to except CO2 emissions to decrease even more in the coming years.
South Korea: Bad?
Hold up
Venezuela: Good
South Korea: Bad
However, I do believe Venezuela's decreases may not be for the right reasons.
With our current economic system, capitalism, it is impossible to fight climate change and have economic growth at the same time. As to have economic growth, you need to sell more stuff, and it's the production of all that stuff that is pushing humanity to it's extinction.
ExxonMobil's private research 50 years ago predicted climate change and we never knew because there are billions to be made from selling fossil fuels.
The answer to this issue is the transition from capitalism to a system where people's interests are prioritized rather than private capital. Some (myself included) believe that the answer is socialism.
As many people have mentioned before, the West isn't really doing as much, because they're outsourcing production to Asia. And I personally find it very funny how some people blame India for it's carbon footprint, when for 200 years until 1947, the West exploited India if all of its resources and prevented it from developing in any way possible, and then when we finally have some economic development (which also helps the West, because we produce your stuff), we get blamed for killing the planet. I agree that India and other countries should be doing more, but you sitting on a high horse and judging India is a bit embarassing for you.
As for the countries in the increase category, I can't fault them for pursuing some economic growth.
2) I am very surprised to NOT see Philippines, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the list of increases.
3) South Korea actually being there for increases surprises me too.
We're trying our best here too, so don't make stupid comments about pursuing economic development over being sustainable when it isn't our fault (technically your ancestor's fault but hey, I'm not blaming anyone for that, and past is past) that we aren't as developed as the West. (Plus don't forget to factor in populations)