The Facts on CO2 Emissions and the G8

As Bush shifts rhetoric on global warming, the U.S. remains #1 in total millions of metric tons of carbon emitted into the air. Loyalists are now beginning to point the finger at China, as if to say, “They are worse than we are.” It's true that China isn't doing that great -- with projected annual increases in carbon emissions between 2004 and 2030 pegged at 3.4% by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It's a huge country, a developing nation now in the grips of cowboy capitalism; and that makes for outrageous priorities.

Still, the country is showing signs that the environmental message is getting through. It is now predicting that levels of water and air pollution will decline in 2007 based on the first centralized reports from some 6,000 companies.

Others have their doubts, but even so, when it comes to carbon emissions, China still is nowhere near as bad as the U.S. on a per capita basis. Here are the numbers:

2004 Emissions (in millions of metric tons)

Country	Total Emissions	Per Capita Emissions
U.S.	5,912	20.2
Russia	1,685	11.7
China	4,707	3.6

 

 



That's right -- each U.S. citizen emits about twice as much carbon as a Russian citizen and 5.6 times more than a Chinese citizen. I really don't think we have any business pointing fingers at anyone but ourselves.