Five things we learned this week …. about climate policies

By Giles Parkinson on 20 July 2012

Here’s a really ugly graph that should require no further explanation – Australia is the world’s biggest emitter per capita of greenhouse gases from the use of fossil fuels and cement production, and is now at 19 tonnes/CO2-e per person. It has even overtaken the US, which has managed to cut its per capita emissions considerably over the last 10 years.

This data was included in an annual report released by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, which revealed that emissions from fossil fuels and cement production rose 3 per cent in 2011 to 34 billion tonnes of Co2-e. This meant that the world had used up one third of its “carbon budget” – the limit to keep average global warming at 2C or below – in 10 years, and would likely consume its entire carbon budget by 2020 at current rates of growth.

Apart from Australia, the only other countries to increase their emissions per capita consistently over the last 20 years are developing nations, and Poland, the coal-belching recalcitrant that is holding back European climate and clean energy initiatives.