According to the BBC, we Australians are the world’s worst polluters per capita. Sorry.
A study of the world’s power stations has shown the extent to which developed countries produce more carbon dioxide per head than emerging economies.
Australians were found to be the world’s worst polluters per capita, producing five times as much CO2 from generating power as China.
The US came second with eight tonnes of the greenhouse gas per head – 16 times more than that produced by India.
Carma (Carbon Monitoring for Action) points out that while US power plants emit the most CO2, releasing 2.5bn tonnes into the atmosphere each year, Australian power stations are the least efficient on a per capita basis, with emissions of 10 tonnes, compared with the US’s 8.2 tonnes.
China’s power sector emits the second-highest total amount of carbon dioxide, pumping 2.4bn tonnes of the gas into the atmosphere annually.
However, its emissions are only one fifth of Australia’s when measured on a per capita basis.
Kyoto, anyone?
