Average American produces as much CO2 every year as 581 citizens from Burundi, charity claims

US citizens each produce as much carbon emissions as 581 people in the East African Republic of Burundi, reveals a new climate and food vulnerability report.

The assessment — conducted by UK charity Christian Aid — highlights the unbalanced impact of climate change on global food security.

Nations like Burundi, the Congo and Madagascar are being hit with the hardest impacts despite being the least responsible for causing climate change.

In contrast, countries responsible for blocking the adoption of climate science findings at UN meetings are among the largest contributors to global warming.

These include Saudi Arabia, the US and Russia — but Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom are also big carbon dioxide emitters.

Christian Aid have called for global emissions reductions, support for vulnerable nations to develop food security and climate early warning systems.

These findings come as the United Nation’s climate change panel prepares to report on the land impacts of climate change on August 8 in Geneva, Switzerland.

To highlight climate change’s unjust impact on the global food system, UK relief and development charity Christian Aid have prepared a Climate and Food Vulnerability Index that explores nations’ relative risk of food insecurity and carbon emissions.

Food insecurity scores were calculated using data from the Economist Intelligence Unit — accounting for food affordability, availability and quality — and CO2 emission levels for 2017 came from the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research.

Christian Aid reveal that the top ten countries most vulnerable to food insecurity each generate less than half a tonne of carbon dioxide per person — and together account for only 0.08% of global carbon emissions.

In contrast, countries responsible for blocking the adoption of climate science findings at UN meetings are among the largest contributors to global warming.

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