The traditional way of determining a country’s greenhouse gas emissions involves taking into account all of their industries, car pollutants and various other means of generating emissions. When determined in this manner, China is the top emissions producer in the world, having surpassed the United States some years ago. However, a new study is pointing to imports being a large contributor to a country’s emissions, emissions that are not counted towards the country that is importing.
Researchers based in the United States recently published their study on importing emissions in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. The researchers determined emissions by studying global trade databases. The products used in a particular country were then counted towards that country’s emission levels, not the country that produced the products.
China, the current world leader in emissions, actually exports almost a quarter of the emissions they generate to western nations. In total, 22.5 percent of the emissions China produces each year are produced for products that are exported. Of this percentage, 7.8 percent is exported to the United States.
The United States, however, was not the country importing the greatest portion of emissions. France, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria import about a third of their emissions when determined in the manner of this study. Overall, European Union residents produce about 10 tons of carbon dioxide each year per resident. When this study is taken into account, the emissions increase to about 14 tons of carbon dioxide each year per resident.
This study supports many who claim the current emissions determination methods are inaccurate and benefit the rich nations of the world. The researchers of this study believe the richer nations should have a larger part in reducing emissions. However, there are those that feel the production of these exports benefit the country which is producing them and therefore they should be responsible for the generated emissions.
