Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

No matter your perspective on global warming, data confirms immense growth of CO₂ emissions during the period from 1753-2004, from 3 million to 4.2 billion metric tons of carbon.

• China and the United States combined are responsible for almost 40 percent of today's global CO₂ emissions.
• On a per capita basis, US CO₂ emissions stabilized at 5 metric tons per person in the early 1980s. In contrast, China's per capita CO₂ emissions are relatively low at 1.4 metric tons. Such per capita discrepancies are standard between developed and developing countries and are central to the call globally to ensure climate-friendly economic growth and development.