Co2 emitters
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
The world's biggest Co2 emitters
FOLLOWING is a list of the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) held responsible for global warming, according to a list of 1996 statistics from the International Energy Agency issued at the Climate Change Conference held in mid-November.
Figures are in millions of tonnes of CO2. 1990 1995 1996 1. United States 4,873 5,228 5,324 2. China 2.398 3,006 3,179 3. Russia 2,000 1,574 1,516 4. Japan 1,061 1,150 1,177 5. Germany 981 884 904 6. India 600 803 863 7. Britain 585 565 582 8. Canada 428 471 469 9. Ukraine 600 430 387 10. Italy 408 424 420 11. France 378 362 384 12. Poland 349 335 365 13. Mexico 302 323 342 14. South Africa 296 319 317 15. Australia 263 286 303 Carbon dioxide is emitted by a variety of human activities involving fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) and remains in the atmosphere for 120 years.
Total emission of CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels totalled 22.7 bil lion tonnes in 1996, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an increase of seven per cent compared with 1990.
Deforestation adds a fur ther estimated three bil lion to four billion tonnes of CO2 per year. Carbon dioxide, along with methane and nitrous oxide accounts for around 95 per cent of all green house gases.
Under last year’s Kyoto Protocol, devel oped nations have agreed to cut global warming gas emissions by an average of five per cent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. ■