Green

Visualizing Global Per Capita CO2 Emissions

Published

1 year ago

December 1, 2021

Anshool Deshmukh

Graphics/Design:

Miranda Smith

Per Capita CO2 Emissions by Country

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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.

Rank	Country or Region	Carbon Emissions Per Capita (t/year)
#1	Middle East A*	19.5
#2	Canada	15.2
#3	Saudi Arabia	14.5
#4	United States	14.4
#5	Australia & New Zealand	13.6
#6	Russia	11.4
#7	South Korea	11.3
#8	Kazakhstan & Turkmenistan	11.2
#9	Taiwan	10.8
#10	Japan	8.4
	Global Average	4.4

*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:

Rank	Country	Per Capita Electricity Consumption (kWh)	% Electricity Production (from fossil fuels)
1	🇫🇮 Finland	12,174	15.6%
2	🇩🇰 Denmark	5,015	21.8%
3	🇳🇴 Norway	26,492	1.2%
4	🇧🇪 Belgium	7,414	34.6%
5	🇸🇪 Sweden	16,478	2.2%
6	🇨🇭 Switzerland	7,935	1.0%
7	🇳🇱 Netherlands	7,264	71.5%
8	🇫🇷 France	8,097	9.5%
9	🇩🇪 Germany	6,771	43.8%
10	🇯🇵 Japan	7,446	69.1%
11	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	4,500	40.7%
12	🇨🇦 Canada	16,648	16.6%
13	🇰🇷 South Korea	10,458	65.8%
14	🇺🇸 United States	12,235	60.1%
15	🇹🇼 Taiwan	11,091	82.8%
16	🇦🇹 Austria	7,716	20.7%
17	🇦🇺 Australia	9,857	75.1%
18	🇮🇪 Ireland	6,408	59.3%
19	🇸🇬 Singapore	8,542	96.7%
20	🇪🇸 Spain	5,641	34.4%
21	🇮🇹 Italy	4,554	56.8%
22	🇨🇿 Czech Republic	7,534	50.7%
23	🇵🇹 Portugal	5,100	41.2%
24	🇳🇿 New Zealand	8,880	18.9%
25	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	1,529	28.5%

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 power capacity of g20 members

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.

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Technology

Infographic: 11 Tech Trends to Watch in 2023

This infographic highlights eleven exciting areas within the world of technology worth keeping an eye on in 2023.

Published

1 day ago

January 30, 2023

Nick Routley

Infographic: 11 Tech Trends to Watch in 2023

It can be tough to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation.

Each new year delivers the full spectrum of progress from game-changing breakthroughs to incremental advancements in a wide variety of fields.

In a noisy media landscape fueled by hype and speculation, it can be tough to know where true value is being created. The infographic above, which draws from CB Insights’ recent report on 11 Tech Trends To Watch Closely in 2023, helps narrow down some areas of focus:

Immortality-as-a-service
The secret invasion of super apps
Fintech’s rapid regeneration
Bots in the house
Virtual power plants
Healthcare’s invisibility trick
Smell goes digital
Femtech turns to menopause
The bio-based materials boom
India’s tech ascent
Regenerative agtech takes root

The report draws information from earnings transcripts, media mentions, investment activity, patents, and more to arrive at the trends listed.

We’ll examine three of these trends below in a bit more detail.

Setting the Stage: Clash of the Super Apps

The concept of a super app⁠—an all-in-one smartphone application that integrates a wide range of services⁠—is far from new. In fact, for years now, WeChat has been the go-to app for many Chinese citizens to chat, order services, pay bills, and more.

A natural question comes to mind: why doesn’t an app like that exist in Western countries yet? Well, there are a couple of key reasons:

Consumers and regulators alike are wary of providers holding so much personal information and power. In China, WeChat actually had government support, integrating public services into the app. As well, expectations of personal privacy are completely different in China than in Western countries
Unlike China, which rapidly adopted digital payments, North America and Europe had preexisting near-ubiquitous financial networks in place. Super apps were a game changer for millions of unbanked consumers in China and beyond.

The situation is changing rapidly though, and 2023 could be the year that the foundations are laid for a clash of various Big Tech incarnations of the super app.

In late 2022, Microsoft was rumored to be building a super app using Bing as the foundation, and recent investment into ChatGPT adds fuel to that fire. Even Elon Musk hinted at his ambitions to turn Twitter into a one-stop-shop for just about everything.

There are still significant barriers to bundling a plethora of services into a single app, but that isn’t stopping companies from racing to be the one to do it. To the victor go the spoils.

The Resiliency of Life Extension

The concepts of immortality and age reversal have been a preoccupation of mankind since the dawn of time, so it stands to reason that technology that promises extra lifespan and quality of life continues to be compelling for individuals and investors alike.

Players in this space can approach life extension and anti-aging from a number of different angles, from supplements to tinkering at the cellular level.

Two high-profile examples in this space are Calico, which is a subsidiary of Alphabet, and the Jeff Bezos-backed Altos Labs. Other billionaires have expressed an interest in life extension as well, including Peter Thiel, who has definitive views on mortality.

I believe if we could enable people to live forever, we should do that. […] I think it is against human nature not to fight death. – Peter Thiel

In 2023, look for more investment and news from startups focused on gene therapy, genome analysis, regenerative medicine, or “longevity in a pill”.

Beyond Plastic: The Bio-Based Materials Boom

Public pressure is mounting for producers of consumer goods to change the way they manufacture their products.

The good news is that many of the largest producers of consumer packaged goods and apparel have some kind of plan in place to use more post-consumer recycled plastic in their products. The bad news is that not enough plastic is recycled globally for companies to source enough material to produce their products more sustainably. As a result, many companies are exploring the option of ditching plastic entirely.

For example, materials derived from seaweed are an active area of innovation right now. Mushrooms and algae are also commonly-used materials from nature that are being used to create biodegradable products. In one particularly interesting example, a company called MycoWorks recently began working with GM Ventures to explore the use of mycelium-based leather alternatives in GM’s vehicles.

While researchers and companies are just scratching the surface of what’s possible, consumers are likely to see more tangible examples of bio-based materials popping up in stores. After all, brands will be very eager to talk about their increasingly plastic-free product lines.