The surprising announcement will increase anxiety about China’s growing role in driving man-made global warming and will pile pressure onto world politicians to agree a new global agreement on climate change that includes the booming Chinese economy. China’s emissions had not been expected to overtake those from the US, formerly the world’s biggest polluter, for several years, although some reports predicted it could happen as early as next year.
China’s ahead of schedule
The United States, on a per person basis, emits four times as much carbon as China. See the numbers here.
editor: I’m not sure I’m 100% convinced that per capita numbers are a valid correlation in this case. After all, per capita, the United States’ CO2 emissions are less than Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain (all of which have a drastically smaller population than the United States). DATA HERE
So, using your logic, the real global CO2 emissions culprit would be Qatar. Does everyone else get a free pass?