Straight Talk with Chukwudi Obi

The average American,  is responsible for 14.95 metric tons, compared to 6.57 metric tons per person in China and only 1.57 metric tons in India. There’s also a huge difference in CO₂ emissions per person among the US states. Wyoming has the highest CO₂ emissions per capita at 110 metric tons, while New York has the lowest with under 9 metric tons, according to US Energy Information Administration figures from 2015. While the US is way ahead of China under the CO₂ per capita measurement, China is the world’s biggest emitter overall. It overtook the US in terms of total emissions back in 2006 and now emits more than the US and EU combined. Rapid economic growth and a large population have been driving up China’s emissions. This chart from the World Resources Institute shows the scale of its contribution to global warming. Canada has neither the large population nor the high total greenhouse emissions of China and the US, but when its CO₂ emissions are measured per person...

Prodded by German Chancellor, Angel Merkel, world leaders at the G7 summit yesterday, agreed to limit the increase in global temperatures. Merkel stated that it was necessary for wealthy country to present a common front at the Climate Summit in Paris in December. While stressing that there was urgent need for concrete action geared towards climate change, Merkel extracted agreement from the world leaders to limit increase  in global temperatures to a maximum of two degrees celsius above pre industrial levels. Working closely with US president and French president, Merkel overcame resistance from their counterparts from Japan and Canada. Though many Climate change activists commended the moves many were of the view that more needs to be done while more countries need to do more to reduce the effects of climate change.