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How Australia compares to the rest of the world on CO2 emissions
As world leaders gather for COP27 in Egypt, SBS News looks at how Australia's carbon dioxide output compares with other countries and its ranking as the highest emitter per capita among OECD members.
Published 4 November 2021 2:37pm
Updated 6 November 2022 4:58pm
By Charis Chang, Kenneth Macleod
Source: SBS News
Key points
- Reducing CO2 emissions is a top talking point at the COP climate summit.
- Australia’s total carbon emissions stand out when looking at them per capita.
World leaders are gathering for the latest climate change conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 November amid energy and food shortages, and in the wake of continuing natural disasters.
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, is being held in very different circumstances to the Glasgow conference last year. .
The Ukraine war has also caused energy prices to soar, and created food shortages and rising inflation in many countries. Amid the cost of living crisis, countries must continue to make progress on lowering carbon emissions and set more ambitious targets to ensure global warming does not exceed 2C.
“If countries are to backtrack or deviate from their commitments, and their efforts to maintain those agreements and understandings made in Paris and Glasgow, we will be on track to have over 2C and maybe up to 3.6C, according to the science available,” Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said recently.
Following a change of government, Australia , for a 43 per cent reduction by 2030. The previous target was a 26 to 28 per cent cut.
To reach the preferred international target of limiting global warming to 1.5C, global emissions must be halved by 2030.
Australia’s total carbon emissions are not as significant as those of other nations but they rise further when taking into account fossil fuel exports and other trade.
Its annual footprint also stands out when looking at emissions on a per capita basis, which is calculated by dividing a country's total emissions by its population.
According to 2020 figures from Our World in Data - the most recently available per capita data - each person in Australia emits 15.4 tonnes of CO2 annually. This is lower than the 16.3 tonnes in 2019 but still three times higher than the world average of 4.47 tonnes.
Despite managing to reduce its per capita emissions, Australia now sits at 11th place compared to all other nations, higher than its previous ranking of 13th place in 2019.
But when ranked among countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – a group of 38 nations generally regarded as being developed and high-income – Australia ranks first as the bloc’s highest emitter per capita.
The interactive graphic below shows how Australia's citizens compare to those in other nations across the globe, and how each country has improved things over the past 30 years.
Which countries are the highest emitters per capita?
The Our World in Data figures looked at production-based emissions – or those produced within a country's boundaries and without accounting for trade. According to the data, the world’s highest annual emitter per capita continues to be Qatar with 37 tonnes.
The Pacific island of New Caledonia rose from third place to second, with 30.4 tonnes.
The Caribbean country of Curacao, which was previously second, has dropped down to eighth position, dramatically reducing its emissions from 31.8 tonnes to 20.3 tonnes.
Mongolia is now third on 27 tonnes, followed by Trinidad and Tobago (25.4), Brunei (23.2), Kuwait (20.8) and Bahrain (20.8).
Australia's 11th position is just ahead of the United States (14.2 tonnes) and Canada (14.2) in 14th and 16th place respectively, and marginally behind Saudi Arabia (18) in 9th spot.
Which countries are the lowest emitters per capita?
According to the data, African nations make up the vast majority of the world’s lowest emitters.
Haiti, with 0.26 tonnes of annual emissions per capita, was the only non-African country to sit among the 22 lowest emitters.
The Democratic Republic of Congo had annual emissions of just 0.03 tonnes, while Somalia and Central African Republic had 0.04 tonnes.
Burundi (0.05), Chad (0.06), Niger (0.07), Malawi (0.07) and Rwanda (0.08) also had very low emissions.
Why does measuring 'per capita' matter?
Malte Meinshausen, an associate professor at The University of Melbourne’s School of Earth Sciences, said while looking at emissions through a per capita lens doesn't tell the whole story of what happens inside a country, it is a good way of comparing countries with each other.
“It gives you a good indicator about what the average lifestyle is [in that country],” he said.
“You can have some countries where you have rich people being very high emitters and a lot of people being rather poor and not emitting much. However, if you compare different countries, it does tell you a great deal.
“There are multiple more dimensions that you want to look at if you want to have a complete picture, but per capita is the best starting point.”
Why are Australia's per capita emissions so high?
Climateworks Australian country context lead Anna Malos said historically Australia had access to high levels of coal and gas for its electricity so industry had become dependent on these high carbon emitting sources of energy.
Renewable forms of energy from technology such as solar and wind have expanded dramatically in the past decade but still only make up 25 per cent of electricity emissions.
"So you've still got that very high level of fossil fuel-powered electricity, and it also means things like our buildings are quite energy inefficient," Ms Malos said.
"We have high levels of energy use to heat and cool our homes, and that was fine for a while, but the problem is that energy prices are now going up and we're recognising that, we can't keep burning gas, and burning coal to produce our electricity because it produces all these greenhouse gas emissions."
Ms Malos said electricity was responsible for about a third of Australia's emissions. The use of fossil fuels for things like transport, industry and buildings added another third.
"Australia is a country of large distances so our transport is also quite high emitting," she said.
Emissions from agriculture and livestock make up about 10 per cent.
"So that's from cows, cows burp methane and that warms the atmosphere. Same with pigs and sheep," she said.
Ms Malos said investing in more renewables and ensuring transmission lines could supply electricity to different parts of the country would make a significant impact on reducing emissions. Improving energy efficiency in households and industry, while encouraging industry to invest in new technology would also help.
The Labor government announced this week .
"This ... will be an opportunity, if we win the bid, to show Australia's capacity to help the world as a renewable energy powerhouse," Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.
Additional reporting by Evan Young.
