BaCCC/Video Summaries/Who Is Responsible for Climate Change? – Who Needs to Fix It?

Video Summary

Who Is Responsible for Climate Change? – Who Needs to Fix It? (10:35)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipVxxxqwBQw

• Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have released over 1.5 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere.
• In recent years, the consequences of climate change have become more serious and visible.
• The only way to limit the rapid climate change is to decrease our collective emissions quickly.
• Developing countries argue that the emissions by the West are lifestyle emissions, while for developing countries, they are survival emissions.
• China, the USA, the European Union, India, Russia, Japan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Canada are the top ten nation states that emit the most carbon dioxide today, comprising 75% of global emissions.
• Historically, the USA, the European Union and China have emitted the most emissions in total.
• The narrative that rapid climate change is the responsibility of the developing world is hard to defend when facts are taken into account.
• The average human is responsible for 5 tonnes of CO2 each year, but averages can be misleading.
• The countries with the largest CO2 emissions per person are some of the world’s major oil and gas producers: Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Brunei, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but these are outliers.
• Australians have one of the highest carbon footprints per person: 17 tonnes per year.
• Historically, CO2 emissions have been closely tied to a high standard of living, with wealth being one of the strongest indicators of our carbon footprint.
• If we order CO2 emissions by income, the richest half of countries are responsible for 86% of global emissions and the bottom half for only 14%.
• The countries that contribute least to the problem stand to lose the most from rapid climate change, and the developing world will be hit the hardest.
• The richest countries have the resources, highly educated workforces and technology to develop low-cost, low-carbon solutions and spread them around the world.
• To avoid poorer countries from becoming dependent on fossil fuels, low-carbon technology must be cheap and available; we are getting there, but it must happen quicker.
• China is the largest CO2 emitter today, and it is China’s responsibility to transition to a zero-carbon world in time.
• Climate change is a global problem, and no country alone can fix it.