CO2 emissions, Net Zero, and the rest of the world — how does the UK compare?

Greta Thunberg and her minions will not like this report, but it’s factual

Countries such as China, the US, and India have massive populations and therefore their total emissions of CO (and other ‘greenhouse gases’) will naturally exceed those of the UK, with its much smaller population.

First, I look at the total emissions of CO2 by the largest countries, compared to the UK. Then I go on to show the emissions per capita, to eliminate the size of the population.

The UK versus the rest of the world

Total CO2 emissions in billions of tonnes, 2021

1. The global picture

The world: 37.12bn tonnes

The UK: 0.347bn tonnes (0.93% of global emissions of CO2)

[Source: Oxford University’s ‘Our World in Data’ based on the Global Carbon Project. Latest figures from 2021.]

2. The UK versus the world’s top 10 biggest emitters of CO2

Total CO2 emissions in billions of tonnes, 2021

China: 11.47

USA: 5.01

India: 2.71

Russia:1.76

Japan: 1.07

Iran: 0.75

Germany: 0.67

Saudi Arabia: 0.67

Indonesia: 0.62

South Korea: 0.62

Other :

EU27 : 2.79

UK: 0.35

Using my measure of ‘CO2 emissions per person strips out the effect of population size. I decided to look at how the UK is performing against some of the larger countries of the world on this basis.

CO2 emissions per capita — the major economies plus EU countries

The biggest emissions per capita by far come from the Gulf States, perhaps unsurprisingly. In order not to give readers information overload, I have focused on major economies outside that region, as well as including the EU27 countries which appear — and the results may surprise some readers.

Please treat with caution: I have taken out the Gulf states and some other smaller oil and gas producers, as well as some small island states, in order to focus on larger economies and those whose leaders parade at COP summits.

Worst CO2 emitters per person 2021 — excluding Gulf and very small or island states

• Australia : 15.09
• USA : 14.86
• Canada : 14.30
• Luxembourg (EU) : 13.07
• Russia : 12.10
• South Korea : 11.89
• Taiwan : 11.85
• Czechia (EU) : 9.24
• Iceland : 9.11
• Poland (EU) : 8.58
• Japan : 8.57
• Iran : 8.52
• Belgium (EU) : 8.24
• Germany (EU) : 8.09
• Netherlands (EU) : 8.06
• China : 8.05
• Estonia (EU) : 7.86
• Malaysia : 7.63
• Norway : 7.57
• Ireland (EU) : 7.53
• UK : 5.15

[Source: Oxford University’s ‘Our World in Data’ based on the Global Carbon Project. Latest figures from 2021.]

Who would have thought the Worst 3 would be Australia, the US, and Canada?

Given the ‘luvvie, woke’ credentials of Canada’s PM, Justin Trudeau, readers may find it surprising that despite his posturing Canada comes in at №3 in MY (admittedly redacted) list. Canada is emitting nearly three times as much CO2 per person as the UK is doing.

Another point of interest is that 12 out of the Worst 25 on MY list are EU member countries. It should be remembered that the EU’s №1 policy objective is its ‘Green Deal’. Almost every pronouncement out of Brussels — on almost any subject — tries to mention the environment and how such-and-such a new policy supports the EU Commission’s Green Deal.

What of China, India, and Russia?

I am commenting on the CO2 output of these large countries because they are big emitters and because neither China nor India has condemned Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. China in particular has been generally supportive of President Putin.

Taken together, these three countries represent 43% of the global emissions of CO2. Meanwhile the United Kingdom’s output accounts for just 0.93%. Not one of these three countries has engaged in anything remotely approaching the UK’s ‘Net Zero’ targets. In fact, China continues to build coal-fired power stations like there’s no tomorrow.

My thoughts

Outside the UK, the rest of the world is responsible for 99.07% of global emissions of CO2. The vast majority of the 200+ other countries and minor states are doing virtually nothing, while the UK government has embarked on what may be the most expensive example of virtue signalling in world history.

To any internet censors reading this, I am not proposing that the UK follows China’s example and builds a new coal-fired power station every week. I simply feel that the great British public has the right to see the facts and the overall context so they can question their elected representatives about policies.

The Government has still not provided a cost-benefit analysis on its Net Zero plans. Other than the half a trillion £ bandied about. I suggest this is now urgent. I know many MPs have requested this but the Treasury is silent. We also believe that the Government should publish a clear summary of costs per type of household for each of the policies, together with the dates these will start to be incurred. Given that the government has been spending hundreds of billions of pounds of the country’s money on this, we believe it is not an unreasonable request.

Along with the immigration crisis and the cost of living crisis, any political party that fails to address these issues to the satisfaction of the electorate will doubtless feel the consequences at the next election.

Sources: Oxford University’s ‘Our World in Data’ based on the Global Carbon Project. All figures from 2021