Quote:
Originally Posted by chemgear
Okay, generally people agree that current levels aren't good correct?
So 2017 World Total Emissions - 36,153 MtCO2
Canada and US standard of living: ~ 16t/person
Now ONLY take India: Population of 1.3 billion(ish) Current levels of 1.8t/person. Give them the same standard of living as Canada/US and the increase in total MtCO2 is 19,000 MtCO2. That's adding more than half of the entire world right now.
China would add another 13,000 MtCO2 on top of that.
EDIT: The 1st world moving to things like electric cars and such are a good move. But the effect is all going to be just a tiny measurement error compared the the sheer mass and momentum of people and overpopulation.
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It's not really accurate to link emissions to standard of living; simply because our emissions are around 16t/person doesn't mean that our standard of living requires that. We've essentially taken the cheapest, easiest possible path to this point. The EU has been reducing their per-capita and overall emissions significantly, but this has not resulted in a significant decrease in the standard of living there.
China should plateau their emissions within about 10-15 years if not sooner. India has effectively slowed their rate of emission increase to below their already ambitious goals (one of the only countries in the world with climate policies compatible with a 2C rise in temperature), yet continues to rapidly improve the standard of living. They'll never come anywhere close to the per-capita emissions that we currently have.
There's definitely a cost here: providing a high standard of living on a lower carbon footprint is more expensive in the short-term (although a better investment longterm even without the environmental implications, given the limited supply of fuel).