![]() Going back to ‘the UK only accounts for 1% of annual global emissions what about China?’ – so, what aboutĬhina led the way, with the US, at COP21 in Paris to help secure the landmark agreement to keep warming to 1.5☌. Not least as our rapid emissions cuts since 1990 have come alongside rapid economic growth. Why would we not want to be at the forefront of the fourth? It undoubtedly includes clean technology, renewables and other climate solutions – so, cleaning up in more ways than one. That means offshore wind today is cheaper and more effective for every other nation on Earth, because of actions the UK took over the last decade.Īnd how did we become wealthy? By being at the forefront of not just the first, but also the second and third (electricity and electronics) industrial revolutions. Investment in capacity and supply chain here helped to drive costs down and fuelled technological improvements. UK public investment in renewables since 2010 has built a market here that, for offshore wind, is the single biggest in the world. For contrast, China is middle to bottom half for CO 2 and GHGs respectively, and Australia, whose population is 2.5 times smaller than the UK’s, is near the top on both.īeing wealthy, we also have market impact. Then we’re 13 thĪmongst individual G20 nations (excluding the EU as a bloc) for greenhouse gas emissions 11 th for just CO 2 emissions. Actually, nearly a third of global emissions comes from countries whose territorial emissions are each 1% or less of the global total around half from nations that account for less than 3% each of annual world emissions.Īnd we creep up the list when you count emissions per capita – i.e. After the EU, China is the second biggest source of those goods and emissions, with Russia and the Middle East also in the top six.Įven just at 1% for territorial emissions, we’re still amongst the top emitting countries – number 15 in 20. That includes our international flights, and imported fossil fuels, as well as things like furniture and consumer goods. That is, when you include emissions generated elsewhere in the world either to supply stuff we import, or by things we do outside the UK. But in 2016, the UK’s true carbon footprint was nearly twice that. That 1% only covers the UK’s territorial emissions – those within our borders.
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