←back to thread

399 points gmays | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
abdullahkhalids ◴[] No.42166327[source]
The last IPCC report estimates that to limit warming to 2C, humans can only emit at most 1150 GtCO2 (at 67% likelihood) [1].

There are 8.2 billion humans, so about 140tCO2/person left on average. If we assume that we get to net zero by 2050, that means the average person can emit about 5.4tCO2/person/year from today to 2050 (hitting 0tCO2/person/year in 2050). This is what emissions look like currently [2]

    Top 5 countries > 10m population
    Saudi Arabia  22.1t 
    United Arab Emirates 21.6t  
    Australia            14.5t 
    United States  14.3t
    Canada          14.0t
    Some others
    China           8.4t
    Europe 6.7t
    World average 4.7t
    Lower-middle-income countries of 1.6t
    Low-income countries 0.3t
Guess what's going to happen and who is going to suffer, despite not doing anything.

[1] Page 82 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6...

[2] https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics

replies(8): >>42166357 #>>42166397 #>>42166404 #>>42166583 #>>42167033 #>>42167060 #>>42167078 #>>42167129 #
blackeyeblitzar ◴[] No.42166583[source]
Are those figures per capita for consumers or producers? Is Saudi Arabia scoring high because of the oil industry?

> Guess what's going to happen and who is going to suffer, despite not doing anything.

Low income countries also don’t have good tracking or data. I’ve seen lots of practices in developing countries that are really damaging environmentally (GHGs and other things) that probably don’t get reported or tracked anywhere, because they’re so local (things like illegal refineries, manufacturing operations with no waste disposal, stubble burning, etc). But they exist. In part those damaging practices are here because of globalism (economic pressure) and changing lifestyles, so it’s not their fault. But my point is we probably just need a global reduction in luxury and quality of life ultimately.

replies(2): >>42166778 #>>42167966 #
1. speakfreely ◴[] No.42167966[source]
> But my point is we probably just need a global reduction in luxury and quality of life ultimately.

Of all proposed political policies, "degrowth" is the standout for being the most ludicrous ask of developing countries. A lot of people don't like hearing it, but human quality of life on a global scale is measured in energy consumption. Trying to convince anyone to accept a lower quality of life, especially people who were subsistence farmers a generation ago, is a losing proposition.