Highest Per Capita CO₂ Emissions

Developing countries like China, India, and Russia are some of the highest producers of CO₂ worldwide and will be so for a while. But the situation is far from straightforward—and looking at CO₂ emissions per capita can add nuance to the overall story.

Based on data presented by the Aqal Group and the IEA, here we visualize the countries and regions with the highest per capita carbon emissions from around the world.

Let’s dive into the highest per capita carbon emitters and how they are trying to reduce their carbon contributions.

Leaders in Per Capita CO₂ Emissions

Oil-producing countries in the Middle East are the highest emitters of CO₂ on a per capita basis, but developed countries like the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada also have some of the higher rates of per capita emissions.

*Middle East A group includes Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates

Canada and the United States have per capita carbon footprints of 15.2 and 14.4 tonnes per year, respectively. Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand combine for an average per capita footprint of over 13.6 tonnes per year.

It’s worth noting that all of these numbers are more than three times higher than the global average, which in 2019 was 4.4 tonnes per person.

Energy Sources and Per Capita CO₂ Emissions

Since there is a strong relationship between wealth and per capita CO₂ emissions, we’d expect countries with high living standards to have a high carbon footprint.

But the data above shows significant differences in per capita emissions, even between countries with similar living standards. Many countries across Europe, for example, have much lower emissions than the U.S., Canada, or Australia.

Here’s a look at the top 25 countries by standard of living and their share of electricity production from fossil fuels:

Sources: Electricity consumption, Fossil fuel mix

The choice of energy sources plays a key role here. In the UK, Portugal, and France, a much higher share of electricity is produced from nuclear and renewable sources.

For example, only 9.5% of France’s electricity production comes from fossil fuels, compared to other developed countries like the U.S. at 60.1% and Japan at 69.1%.

G20 Countries and Carbon Emissions

This reliance on fossil fuels for energy production extends to the rest of the G20 countries. According to the Climate Transparency Report, CO₂ emissions will rise by 4% across the G20 group this year, dropping 6% in 2020 due to the pandemic.

This rise is mainly due to the increase in coal consumption across these countries. Coal consumption is projected to rise by almost 5% in 2021, with this growth driven by China (accounting for 61% of the growth), the U.S. (18%), and India (17%).

Here’s a look at the current coal power capacity of each G20 country:

Coal use in China has surged, with the country experiencing increased demand for energy as the global economy has recovered. Coal prices are up nearly 200% from a year ago.

Plans to Tackle Emissions

The conclusion of the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow saw several pledges and announcements being made by various countries. Here are some of the highlights:

• The world’s biggest CO₂ emitters, the U.S. and China, pledged to cooperate more over the next decade in areas including methane emissions and the switch to clean energy.
• Leaders from more than 100 countries—with about 85% of the world’s forests—promised to stop deforestation by 2030.
• More than 100 countries agreed upon a scheme to cut 30% of methane emissions by 2030.
• Financial organizations have agreed to back renewable energy and direct finance away from fossil fuel-burning industries.

Many countries have pledged to do their part to tackle climate change. It will be an impressive display of global unity if global CO₂ emissions drop significantly over the next decade.

Visualizing the Accumulation of Human-Made Mass on Earth

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The world is not getting any bigger but the human population continues to grow, consuming more and more resources and altering the very environment we rely on.

In 2020, the amount of human-made mass, or anthropogenic mass, exceeded for the first time the dry weight (except for water and fluids) of all life on Earth, including humans, animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms.

In this infographic based on a study published in Nature, we break down the composition of all human-made materials and the rate of their production.

A Man-made Planet

Anthropogenic mass is defined as the mass embedded in inanimate solid objects made by humans that have not been demolished or taken out of service—which is separately defined as anthropogenic mass waste.

Over the past century or so, human-made mass has increased rapidly, doubling approximately every 20 years. The collective mass of these materials has gone from 3% of the world’s biomass in 1900 to being on par with it today.

While we often overlook the presence of raw materials, they are what make the modern economy possible. To build roads, houses, buildings, printer paper, coffee mugs, computers, and all other human-made things, it requires billions of tons of fossil fuels, metals and minerals, wood, and agricultural products.

Human-Made Mass

Every year, we extract almost 90 billion tons of raw materials from the Earth. A single smartphone, for example, can carry roughly 80% of the stable elements on the periodic table.

The rate of accumulation for anthropogenic mass has now reached 30 gigatons (Gt)—equivalent to 30 billion metric tons—per year, based on the average for the past five years. This corresponds to each person on the globe producing more than his or her body weight in anthropogenic mass every week.

At the top of the list is concrete. Used for building and infrastructure, concrete is the second most used substance in the world, after water.

Bricks and aggregates like gravel and sand also represent a big part of human-made mass.

Although small compared to other materials in our list, the mass of plastic we’ve made is greater than the overall mass of all terrestrial and marine animals combined.

As the rate of growth of human-made mass continues to accelerate, it could become triple the total amount of global living biomass by 2040.

Can We Work It Out?

While the mass of humans is only about 0.01% of all biomass, our impact is like no other form of life on Earth. We are one of the few species that can alter the environment to the point of affecting all life.

At the current pace, the reserves of some materials like fossil fuels and minerals could run out in less than 100 years. As a result, prospectors are widening their search as they seek fresh sources of raw materials, exploring places like the Arctic, the deep sea, and even asteroids.

As the world population continues to increase, so does the pressure on the natural environment. It is an unavoidable fact that consumption will increase, but in an era of net-zero policies and carbon credits, accounting for the human impact on the environment will be more important than ever.