Australians are the world's worst individual greenhouse gas polluters if emissions are calculated from the output of the country's power stations, a new analysis says.
Each Australian produces nearly 11 tonnes of carbon dixoide power sector emissions, the US follows on 9 tonnes per person. China produces only 2 tonnes a year per person and Indians emit about half a tonne per person.
The data was compiled by the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based think tank.
It found that the US had nearly one in six of the world's power stations, and emitted nearly 25 percent of the world's total carbon dixoide emissions.
One surprise in the data, the report said, was that the world's biggest emitters of carbon dixoide in absolute terms are in rapidly emerging economies with huge coal-fired plants. Five of the world's most polluting companies are in China and three in the US.
"High US emissions are partly the result of high living standards but they also reflect differences in government policy. Europeans with comparable living standards emit less than half the power sector CO2 of the average American," said Nancy Birdsall, one of the report's authors.
Power stations are the most concentrated source of greenhouse gases. The world's worst is Taichung in Longjing Township (龍井), Taichung County, which emits 41.3 million tonnes of carbon dixoide per year, the report said.
The US produces 2.79 billion tonnes a year and China 2.7 billion tonnes. They are followed by Russia with 661 million tonnes; India 583 million; Japan 400 million; Germany 356 million; Australia 226 million; South Africa 222 million; the UK 212 million and South Korea with 185 million tonnes.
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young people in India are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humor into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach — known for its ability to survive harsh conditions — as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance. The online movement’s rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)
HOTTER: While Indians are accustomed to summer heat, climate change has caused northwestern India to warm faster than other parts of the country, an academic said Roads and markets have emptied during afternoons and some farmers have switched to nighttime work to avoid scorching temperatures as a heat wave grips large parts of India. The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures for yesterday of about 45°C in the capital, New Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary “cooling zones” to help people cope. The weather department warned that conditions would likely persist across several northern regions in the coming days, with temperatures staying well above seasonal averages. Authorities urged people to stay indoors during the hottest hours and take precautions against heat-related illnesses. India declares a heat wave whenever maximum temperatures
A Hong Kong astronaut is to join a Chinese space mission for the first time as part of a three-person crew launching today, as Beijing edges closer to its goal of landing people on the moon. The Tiangong space station — crewed by teams of three astronauts that are typically rotated every six months — is the crown jewel of China’s space program, boosted by billions in state investment in a bid to catch up with the US and Russia. The Shenzhou-23 mission is to blast off at 11:08pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, carrying three astronauts to
RSS