[Bennie_R97]

@Hedwig This is a really interesting point that you have made here. And you are right ! US and China produce the most greenhouse gases. I can say that China in recent years has been doing so much more work in order to reduce their emissions, researches actually show that they have done more than the US.
I think that it is always tricky when it comes to who is responsible for carbon foot prints as there are so many different aspects that need to be taken in consideration. Such as the problem surrounding the ethical,environmental and political aspects of different countries.

[GSimpson]

@retrotecchie

Very interesting thread, especially in the light of the failure of COP27.

I wonder who will be contributing to the new fund set up to give money to those countries suffering the most from climate change. It will be an enormous argument over

• who is and who isn't a developing country,
• should countries pay in the proportion in which they have caused the problem and
• were some problems on the ground actually self-inflicted rather than as a result of climate change.

For interest, the top 10 countries who have cumulatively contributed most to global warming are:

USA 20.3%
China 11.4%
Russia 6.9%
Brazil 4.5%
Indonesia 4.1%
Germany 3.5%
India 3.4%
UK 3%
Japan 2.5%
Canada 2.6%

Many countries have managed to reduce their carbon footprint. Some have carried on regardless of the damage they are doing. For example, China is now responsible for 25% of the current yearly total and show every liklihood of increasing that proportion.

[Plantagenet]

@GSimpson

Well the goverment have “topped” out on borrowing so at the ground level it will be the tax payer.

[retrotecchie]

Originally Posted by GSimpson

China is now responsible for 25% of the current yearly total and show every liklihood of increasing that proportion.

It would be very interesting to take the figures and, rather than work out emissions per country, work it out as emissions per capita.

It never came as much of a surprise to me to know that the per capita consumption, and hence carbon footprint, of a typical American was some 1.5 to 2 times that of a typical European.

In fact, if you work out percentage emissions per million capita of population, it looks a bit like this:

Country	Percent CO2	Pop (million)	Per Million Capita
India	3.4	1380	0.00246376811594203
China	11.4	1439	0.0079221681723419
Indonesia	4.1	274	0.014963503649635
Japan	2.5	126	0.0198412698412698
Brazil	4.5	213	0.0211267605633803
Germany	3.5	84	0.0416666666666667
UK	3	68	0.0441176470588235
Russia	6.9	146	0.0472602739726027
USA	20.3	331	0.0613293051359517
Canada	2.6	38	0.068421052631579

So, Canada are the worst culprits, followed by the USA. The UK is fourth after Russia, China is almost at the bottom of that list with India only having a third of the footprint of China, per million population.

[GSimpson]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

It would be very interesting to take the figures and, rather than work out emissions per country, work it out as emissions per capita

Some very surprising results for cumulative emissions per capita based on 2021 population:

1 New Zealand
2. Canada
3 Australia
4. United States
5 Argentina
6 Quatar
7 Gabon
8. Malasia
9 Congo
10 Nicaragua
11 Paraguay
12 Kazakhstan
13 Zambia
14 Panama
15 Ivory Coast
16 Costa Rica
17 Bolivia
18 Kuwait
19 Trinidad and Tobago
20 UAE

[retrotecchie]

@GSimpson

Yes, we don't even figure in that list, but I posted the data for the top ten countries above. New Zealand's emissions are mostly sheep related, I would imagine.

[GSimpson]

[QUOTE=retrotecchie;23356 New Zealand's emissions are mostly sheep related, I would imagine.[/QUOTE]

New Zealand was responsible for massive deforestation in the 19thcentury. The very tiny population at the time had very high annual per-capita emissions, with the cumulative total by 1900 making up around two-thirds of the total by today.

As an example, this type of background makes it impossible to fairly apportion responsibility to a country, they all have different reasons for their emissions being measured too high or too low. As I said earlier, much opportunityfor endless arguments.

[meldrewreborn]

@GSimpson

NZ still exports huge amounts of timber, but from managed forestry now. How it counts on the emissions scorecard will depend on what it’s used for I suppose.

[meldrewreborn]

@GSimpson

Endless scope for spin doctors, activists, lawyers and politicians.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

And don't get me started on statisticians...😜