A political commentator criticised the UK’s efforts to address climate change by releasing a graph claiming that China’s carbon emissions exceed those of all other countries combined.
The live BBC graph was uploaded on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, by James Melville, a political commentator.
The graph shows how China’s carbon emissions increased from 1959 to 2020, surpassing all other countries’ contributions – with the UK not even making the top ten.
It comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced he’d delay a series of key climate targets at a press conference yesterday (September 21).
Mr Melville wrote: “China’s emissions now exceed all developed nations combined.
“But let’s cull cows, ban gas boilers, enforce ULEZ, dump 40 million tons of wind turbine blades in landfills by 2050, use electric car batteries with cobalt, mined by child slaves in Congo.”
Many of his followers agreed with his post.
One follower said: “I wish someone, somewhere would acknowledge and celebrate the progress we’ve made since 1960.”
Another said: “If we achieved net zero tomorrow China would replace our emissions by Christmas.”
Following China, the United States, India, and Russia contribute the most emissions, according to the graph.
However, Gareth Redmond-King of the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit makes an opposite case in a paper titled Why the UK’s 1% of global emissions is a major problem.
According to the climate expert, we must examine the UK’s total emissions, which include emissions generated in other nations to provide goods and services utilised in the UK.
He wrote: “It’s often claimed the UK, at 1 percent of global emissions, is too small to have an impact, often followed by ‘what about China?’.
He adds: “That 1 percent only covers the UK’s territorial emissions – those within our borders.
“But in 2016, the UK’s true carbon footprint was nearly twice that. That is, when you include emissions generated elsewhere in the world either to supply stuff we import, or by things we do outside the UK.”
Yesterday, Rishi Sunak informed reporters that he will delay a prohibition on selling new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035, postpone plans to phase out gas boilers and reject requests to monitor household efficiency.
He also restated intentions to increase oil and gas activities in Britain’s North Sea and drill for the fossil fuels that environmentalists have decried, as well as the lifting of an onshore wind restriction.