Aristos Georgiou
4/23/21
A virtual summit on climate change hosted by President Joe Biden continues into its second day on Friday.
The president invited 40 world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to discuss humanity's response to perhaps the most pressing issue of our time.
The world's nations emit hugely different quantities of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases are contributing to the warming of our planet. But which nations are the biggest greenhouse gas emitters?
Below is a list showing the nations that emit the largest amount of carbon dioxide (CO2)—perhaps the most dangerous greenhouse gas from a climate standpoint—via the combustion of coal, natural gas, oil, and other fuels, including industrial waste and non-renewable municipal waste.
The list was compiled by the International Energy Agency and refers to 2018—the most recent available data. The figures show total CO2 emissions for the year, where GT is an abbreviation for metric gigatons.
But it should also be noted that the richest 1 percent of the world's population across countries—those who earn over $100,000 per year—were responsible for more than twice as much carbon dioxide emissions as the poorer half of the world between 1990 and 2015, according to a study published by Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute.
The same study also found that the richest 10 percent of the global population—around 630 million people who earn more than $35,000 per year—were responsible for roughly 52 percent of global emissions during this time.
www.newsweek.com
4/23/21
A virtual summit on climate change hosted by President Joe Biden continues into its second day on Friday.
The president invited 40 world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to discuss humanity's response to perhaps the most pressing issue of our time.
The world's nations emit hugely different quantities of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases are contributing to the warming of our planet. But which nations are the biggest greenhouse gas emitters?
Below is a list showing the nations that emit the largest amount of carbon dioxide (CO2)—perhaps the most dangerous greenhouse gas from a climate standpoint—via the combustion of coal, natural gas, oil, and other fuels, including industrial waste and non-renewable municipal waste.
The list was compiled by the International Energy Agency and refers to 2018—the most recent available data. The figures show total CO2 emissions for the year, where GT is an abbreviation for metric gigatons.
- China (10.06GT)
- United States (5.41GT)
- India (2.65GT)
- Russian Federation (1.71GT)
- Japan (1.16GT)
- Germany (0.75GT)
- Islamic Republic of Iran (0.72GT)
- South Korea (0.65GT)
- Saudi Arabia (0.62GT)
- Indonesia (0.61GT)
- Canada (0.56GT)
- Mexico (0.47GT)
- South Africa (0.46GT)
- Brazil (0.45GT)
- Turkey (0.42GT)
- Australia (0.42GT)
- United Kingdom (0.37GT)
- Poland (0.34GT)
- France (0.33GT)
- Italy (0.33GT)
- Kazakhstan (0.32GT)
- Saudi Arabia (18.48T)
- Kazakhstan (17.60T)
- Australia (16.92T)
- United States (16.56T)
- Canada (15.32T)
- South Korea (12.89T)
- Russian Federation (11.74T)
- Japan (9.13T)
- Germany (9.12T)
- Poland (9.08T)
- Islamic Republic of Iran (8.82T)
- South Africa (8.12T)
- China (7.05T)
- United Kingdom (5.62T)
- Italy (5.56T)
- Turkey (5.21T)
- France (5.19T)
- Mexico (3.77T)
- Indonesia (2.30T)
- Brazil (2.19T)
- India (1.96T)
But it should also be noted that the richest 1 percent of the world's population across countries—those who earn over $100,000 per year—were responsible for more than twice as much carbon dioxide emissions as the poorer half of the world between 1990 and 2015, according to a study published by Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute.
The same study also found that the richest 10 percent of the global population—around 630 million people who earn more than $35,000 per year—were responsible for roughly 52 percent of global emissions during this time.
The Biggest Contributors to Global Warming As Biden Holds Climate Summit
The world's nations emit hugely different quantities of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
www.newsweek.com
