No small nations do not make up 30% of emissions
Stuff reports:
New Zealand’s carbon emissions totalled 0.17 per cent, but when grouped with other small nations with similar emissions the total rose to 30 per cent globally, larger than the three biggest – United States, China and India.
On the assumption they mean greenhouse gas emissions (not just CO2) this is way off the mark.
NZ is 0.17% of total emissions. If you include all countries with emissions of 0.20% or less they total 7.5% of global emissions, not 30%.
Even if you go up to all countries with emissions of 0.50% (three times the NZ level) and less, they only comprise 13.5% of global emissions.
It is very misleading to suggest the minnows combined are the largest source of emissions. They are not even close.
Here’s the percentage of total emissions by the top few countries:
- Top 5: 54.9%
- Top 10: 62.4%
- Top 20: 74.8%
- Top 30: 82.0%
And for the bottom countries:
- Bottom 100: 2.9%
- Bottom 150: 12.5%