Forbes


Over the next two weeks, representatives from 200 countries are convening for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid. The Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change (COP) is tasked with making sure the agreements under the Paris Climate Accord are met. That 2015 agreement aimed to promote steps to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels and, to less than 1.5 degrees above if possible. The Paris Accord built on the Kyoto Protocol, which went into effect in 2005.

The U.S. has a poor record of cooperation with these international bodies, having never ratified the Kyoto agreement, and withdrawing in 2017 from the Paris Accord (for its supposed negative impact on the U.S. economy).

China on the other hand, has gotten a lot of positive press for its investments in wind, solar, and electric vehicles. China leads the world in spending in each of those categories.

Nevertheless, as the data shows, China has become the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide by far, growing emissions at a breakneck pace. While the U.S. leads the world in cutting carbon emissions.

According to the 2019 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, global annual carbon dioxide emissions have increased by 20% since the Kyoto Protocol. The Asia Pacific region saw carbon dioxide emissions increase by 50% since 2005, while emissions in the U.S. and EU declined.

Below are the Top 10 emitters of carbon dioxide from 2018, along with the global share and the change each country has experienced since the 2005 Kyoto Protocol.


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