Carbon reality check

AREGION’S TOTAL CARBON emissions is not necessarily an accurate portrayal of its influence on global warming. Examining carbon emissions per person can be more revealing.

China, for example, produces 8715 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, and that certainly makes it the global leader in terms of total emissions, followed by the USA, Russia and India. Australia, which produces more than

392 million tonnes, comes 17th on that list.

But what’s the situation when we measure carbon production per person? China is a rapidly developing country with a very high population.

When emissions are measured per head of population, the Asian powerhouse ranks 50th.

The world leader when it comes to carbon emissions per capita is the Arabian Peninsula nation of Qatar, followed by the South American twin island nation of Trinidad and Tobago and then Curaçao in the Caribbean Sea.

Here are the top global emitters per capita. Australia’s positioning, well ahead of China and slightly ahead of the USA, is particularly telling.