{"id":59728,"date":"2021-10-08T06:02:05","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T11:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=59728"},"modified":"2021-10-08T06:02:05","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T11:02:05","slug":"analysis-which-countries-are-historically-responsible-for-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=59728","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: Which countries are historically responsible for climate change?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Analysis: Which countries are historically responsible for climate change?<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Historical responsibility for climate change is at the heart of debates over\u00a0climate justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

History matters because the cumulative amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted since the start of the industrial revolution is\u00a0closely tied<\/a>\u00a0to the 1.2C of warming that has already\u00a0occurred<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In total, humans have pumped around\u00a02,500bn<\/a>\u00a0tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2) into the atmosphere since 1850, leaving less than\u00a0500GtCO2<\/a>\u00a0of remaining\u00a0carbon budget<\/a>\u00a0to stay below 1.5C of warming.<\/p>\n

This means that, by the end of 2021, the world will collectively have burned through 86% of the carbon budget for a 50-50 probability of staying below 1.5C, or 89% of the budget for a two-thirds likelihood.<\/p>\n

In this article, Carbon Brief looks at national responsibility for historical CO2 emissions from 1850-2021, updating\u00a0analysis<\/a>\u00a0published in 2019.<\/p>\n

For the first time, the analysis includes CO2 emissions from land use and forestry, in addition to those from fossil fuels, which significantly alters the top 10.<\/p>\n

In first place on the rankings, the US has released more than 509GtCO2 since 1850 and is responsible for the largest share of historical emissions, Carbon Brief analysis shows, with\u00a0some 20% of the global total.<\/p>\n