2017

The diagram below shows ‘Share of global Climate Debt‘ in 2010, 2015 and 2017 of the United States, Japan and China (ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd). The shares of the United States and Japan are decreasing at slower rates lately, whereas China’s is increasing fast. Global Climate Debt accumulated since 2000 is $7.2 Trillion.

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, Canada, Russia and Saudi Arabia (ranked 4th, 5th, and 6th in Share of global Climate Debt) are included in some diagrams.

The ‘Per capita Climate Debt‘ accumulated since 2000 of the United States, China and Japan are $7,387, $921 and $2,727, respectively. The diagram below shows the trends between 2010 and 2017, with world average set at 100, for the three countries as well as of Canada, Russia and Saudi Arabia. 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. The reduction-rate of the United States is too little and too late, China’s wild growing emissions seem to have peaked, and Japan’s efforts looks plain pitiful.

The diagram below shows per capita GDP(ppp-$) of the six countries and the World average. The wealth of the United States is around 3.6 times greater than World average and China.

The next diagram shows the relative Environmental Performance of the United States, China and Japan, with an average country set at 100. China is still below world average and the United States has recently passed Japan. [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 the United States, China and Japan are 180, 68 and 96, respectively. Release years are about four years after data years. The Climate Debt of the United States would have been 5.1% 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: ‘United States‘, ‘China‘ and ‘Japan‘).

Forest Cover and the precious Primary Forests as percentage of total land area, in 1990 and 2015, are important indicators in ClimatePositions. The United States has nearly stable values, while China’s Forest Cover grew by 5.4% of total land area; however, China’s Primary Forests are still relatively negligible. Japan’s Primary Forests grew by 3.0% of total land area.

The per capita Nuclear Power generation 2000-2016 is shown below (the per capita ranking is shown in brackets). The United States is the World’s largest Nuclear Power generator in 2016, while China ranked 3rd and Japan 18th. In the calculation of Climate Debt, Nuclear Power must be phased out similar to Fossil Fuels, calculated as if Nuclear Power was oil-generated.

Population density 2016 and growth between 2000 and 2016 show that, among these three countries, less land per capita coincides with lower growth rate. The Populations of the United States, China and Japan are about 323, 1,379 and 127 million, respectively.

Finally, the table below shows four key values of the United States, China, Japan, Canada, Russia and Saudi Arabia, 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.