2017

The diagram below shows ‘Share of global Climate Debt‘ in 2010, 2015 and 2017 of Algeria, Egypt and Sweden (ranked 46th, 47th and 48th). The Algerian share has increased continuously, whereas the Egyptian and the Swedish shares appear to have peaked around 2015.

The following exposes the key-data in the Climate Debt calculations: Fossil CO2 Emissions, GDP, Environmental Performance, Ecological Footprint without carbon, Forest Cover, Primary Forests, Nuclear Power, Population trends and climate change financing. For comparison, Luxembourg, Libya and Brunei (ranked 49th, 50th, and 51st in Share of global Climate Debt) are included in some diagrams.

The ‘Per capita Climate Debt‘ accumulated since 2000 of Algeria, Egypt and Sweden are $226, $95 and $868, respectively. The second diagram shows the trends between 2010 and 2017, with world average set at 100, for the three countries as well as of Luxembourg, Libya and Brunei. The per capita Climate Debt ranking by October 2017 is shown in brackets.

The next three diagrams show Fossil CO2 Emissions from fuels and industrial processes¹, in tons per capita in decades, of the United States, China and Japan. The green bars show the Free Emission Level² – the exceedance is the basis for calculating the national Climate Debt. The grey bars are World emissions average.

CO2 Emissions data 1990-2016 (EDGAR) has been updated October 2017.

The three diagrams below show the per capita Fossil CO2 Emissions from fuels and industrial processes¹, annually since 2000, of the three countries. The green bars show the Free Emission Level². Algeria can increase emissions somewhat compared to 1990s and still be free of Climate Debt. Egypt made a substantial one-and-only emission cut in 2013, whereas the rather consistent Swedish reductions are insufficient.

The diagram below shows per capita GDP(ppp-$) of the six countries and the World average. The wealth of Sweden is around 4.4 times greater than the Egyptian.

The next diagram shows the relative Environmental Performance of Algeria, Egypt and Sweden, with an average World country set at 100. Algeria passed World average recently, while the reverse happened to Egypt. [Added 25-1-2018: See the new ‘Environmental Performance Index 2018‘]

The average per capita Ecological Footprint without carbon, between 2000 and 2013, with an average World country set at 100, of Algeria, Egypt and Sweden are 66, 71 and 229, respectively. Release years are about four years after data years. The Climate Debt of Sweden would have been 28.3% smaller with World average footprint. Note that footprint calculation methods have changed over time. The latest and historic details from the source are available here: ‘Algeria‘, ‘Egypt‘ and ‘Sweden‘.

Forest Cover and the precious Primary Forests as percentage of total land area, in 1990 and 2015, are important indicators in ClimatePositions. Algeria’s and Egypt’s Forest Cover are both negligible, whereas Sweden’s Forest Cover is high and stable, however, the precious Primary Forests are somewhat pitiful (only 7.2% of the Forest Cover).

The per capita Nuclear Power generation 2000-2016 of Sweden, Finland and Japan are shown below (the per capita ranking is shown in brackets). Sweden is the World’s largest per capita Nuclear Power generator. In the calculation of Climate Debt, Nuclear Power must be phased out similar to Fossil Fuels, calculated as if Nuclear Power was oil-generated. Had Sweden phased out Nuclear Power generation accordingly without changing the other indicator values, then the accumulated Climate Debt would have been 62.6% smaller.

The diagrams below show Population density 2016 and growth between 2000 and 2016. The density of Algeria and Sweden is about equally low. The Populations of Algeria, Egypt and Sweden are about 41, 96 and 9.9 million, respectively.

Finally, the table below shows four key values of Algeria, Egypt, Sweden, Luxembourg, Libya and Brunei in the calculation of national Climate Debts in ClimatePositions. The price of CO2 per ton (column two) is for total CO2 Emission from Fossil Fuels (without bunkers) and industrial processes. Climate change financing (column three) is from July 2017.

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¹Fossil CO2 Emissions include all anthropogenic emissions from Fossil Fuel (combustion and production) and from industrial processes (cement, steel, liming, urea and ammonia production or consumption). The uncertainty in Fossil CO2 emissions is below 5% for industrialized countries and below 15% for developing countries.CO2 Emissions from international shipping and aviation (bunkers) are not included.

²The Free Emission Level (green bars) is determined by national CO2 Emissions 1990-1999 (base), and 11 more ‘Indicators‘, of which 7 are national and 4 are global.

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Updated data and diagrams of all ‘Indicators‘ and all countries in ClimatePositions are available in the menu ‘Calculations (Excel)‘.

Data on Fossil CO2 Emissions (excluding international shipping and aviation) and industrial processes (cement, steel, liming, etc.) are from EDGAR (European Commission) (links in the menu Calculations / Sources & Links).

Information on national GDP(ppp-$) per capita: Worldbank (links in the menu Calculations / Sources & Links).

Source on Environmental Performance: Yale and Columbia University (links in the menu Calculations / Sources & Links).

Source on Ecological Footprint: Global Footprint Network (links in the menu Calculations / Sources & Links).

Data on national Forest Cover and Primary Forests are from United Nations UN (Report: Global Forest Resources Assessments) (links in the menu Calculations / Sources & Links).

Data on national Nuclear Power generation: World Nuclear Association (links in the menu Calculations / Sources & Links).

Data on national and global Populations is from Worldbank (links in the menu Calculations / Sources & Links).

PowerPoint collage with flags by Claus Andersen, 2017.