Australia overtakes US as biggest polluter: report
September 11, 2009
An exhaust stack rises through the steam of the Loy Yang B power station in the Latrobe Valley, 150km east of Melbourne. Australians have overtaken Americans as the world's biggest individual producers of carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global warming, a risk consultancy says.
Australians have overtaken Americans as the world's biggest individual producers of carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global warming, a risk consultancy says.
British firm Maplecroft placed Australia's per capita output at 20.58 tons a year, some four percent higher than the United States and top of a list of 185 countries.
Canada, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia rounded out the top five. China remains the world's biggest overall greenhouse gas polluter, followed by the United States.
Maplecroft added that China and India's per person carbon production came in at just 4.5 and 1.16 tons respectively, in sharp contrast to their big overall figures.
"Australia has about five times the per capita emissions of China for instance but China produces over 20 times the carbon emissions of Australia because China has such a huge population," University of Adelaide professor Barry Brook told public broadcaster ABC.
"So you can play around with these numbers all you want but ultimately what matters is the total global carbon budget," he said.
"And unless humanity as a whole can find solutions to that problem, then all of that petty bickering amongst nations about who's more or less responsible isn't really going to be very helpful."
The report was released ahead of a major UN summit in Copenhagen in December aiming to thrash out a new climate change treaty.
Australia, whose vast size and isolation make for high transport costs for goods and people, has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by up to 25 percent by 2020 compared to 2000 levels.
However, emissions trading legislation was defeated in the Senate last month, leaving the target in doubt.
(c) 2009 AFP
Feb 08, 2010
Maybe it was defeated because emissions TRADING would not actually do anything to REDUCE greenhouse gas emissions.
What are we supposed to do? Ban furnaces or import 50,000,000 poor Indians & Chinese?
Cause the per capita standard of living demands are grossly different. When you have no infrastructure you do not require alot of power, they are not living green- they are living in the dark ages.
In other words, the rest of the world should actually be paying Australia for the fact that its land and oceans are actually soaking up excess man-made CO2 from other countries.
Now take my hobby, motorcycles. Spain, France, Italy; there'd be race tracks aplenty within 200km. The shortest distance between two of the tracks I raced at this year is 5200km!!
Kill our energy intensive exports though, mining/steel/coal/wheat/meat, and it'll be a different story.
looking at Australia's biggest exports, those being coal (and various other mined minerals) as well as the livestock industry. It is no wonder why the amount of CO2 released is large. I am hoping that people don't believe that the Austalian population are the cause of such emissions, but that they realise that the industries that have given us the best Western economy in this current time have been the main contributors. So for australians it is an ultimatum between advancement or reucing industry emissions... Tough World, eh??
Well that's because they fission uranium instead of burning dirt like Australia.
France is also primarily nuclear. A technology you have denigrated in other posts.