BP Data Show That US Still Clinging To Narrow Lead Over China In GHG Output - Bloomberg

[hatrack]

USA! USA! USA! USA!

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. released more carbon dioxide into the air from burning fossil fuels than any other country last year, barely keeping its lead over China, whose emissions surged on coal use, estimates based on BP Plc data show.

The biggest economy emitted 6.56 billion metric tons of the greenhouse gas in 2007, according to Bloomberg calculations using the consumption of coal, oil and natural gas published today in the statistical review of energy by BP, Europe's second-largest oil company. China's total was an estimated 6.46 billion tons.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said last year that if emissions blamed for global warming are left unchecked, the world's average temperature may rise by as much as 6 degrees Celsius (10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, potentially causing icecaps to melt, sea levels to rise and droughts to worsen.

About 180 nations are seeking to negotiate a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a treaty to limit climate change through 2012. They set a deadline at the end of next year. China's emissions, largely driven by burning coal, will probably more than double to 11.4 billion tons by 2030, unless lawmakers change energy policies, the International Energy Agency in Paris said in November.

EDIT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=a6gcVVjNZcwo&refer=energy

[David__77]

1. So, per capita, the US contributes several times greater greenhouse gas output than China.

It makes sense that the US should produce several times less output of various types of pollution since the US population is so much smaller.

[Javaman]

2. We're #1!!! We're #1!!! We're #1!!! We're #1!!! We're #1!!! nt