It is still an apples and oranges comparison. The US GDP is heavily influenced by services (think global financial centers) and high margin, lower impact products like software and healthcare. So a large percentage of the GDP is produced with a lower carbon footprint.
It still produces a lot of physical goods, and does so at higher cost and with lower pollution, in part because the initial processing and pollution is done elsewhere.
China and India smelt ore and sends the US steel sheets. The US fabricates the sheets into a product and produces the majority of the value of the product with much lower pollution output.
There are forces inside industries to reduce an industry's pollution, regardless of location. Several corporations are vetting vendors for labor conditions and pollution practices. Standardized industrial practices do much more to reduce pollution than a blanket 10% (or whatever the number is) decrease mandate which will move pollution production around without really lowering it.
China imposed a blue skies law a year or so ago that aimed at reducing pollution. It was so expensive to comply that many factories closed down and the reduction in supply affected global prices. Much of it just moved to India.
![image showing [OC] Which countries contribute a greater proportion of global CO2 emissions than they contribute to global GDP?](007f1f4a-7978-5774-a290-611030007e22.jpg)
tigeer on September 12nd, 2019 at 12:31 UTC »
'Taking More Than They Give' seems like a misleading chart title, why do countries with a greater GDP 'give' more?
Maybe 'Emission Efficiency of Production' might be a better chart title
danielv123 on September 12nd, 2019 at 14:04 UTC »
I don't understand why a more granluar scale isn't used. Half the countries have 1x or <1x, then a few outliers have 2 - 4 and one has 5?
Lxs7328 on September 12nd, 2019 at 14:21 UTC »
It is still an apples and oranges comparison. The US GDP is heavily influenced by services (think global financial centers) and high margin, lower impact products like software and healthcare. So a large percentage of the GDP is produced with a lower carbon footprint.
It still produces a lot of physical goods, and does so at higher cost and with lower pollution, in part because the initial processing and pollution is done elsewhere.
China and India smelt ore and sends the US steel sheets. The US fabricates the sheets into a product and produces the majority of the value of the product with much lower pollution output.
There are forces inside industries to reduce an industry's pollution, regardless of location. Several corporations are vetting vendors for labor conditions and pollution practices. Standardized industrial practices do much more to reduce pollution than a blanket 10% (or whatever the number is) decrease mandate which will move pollution production around without really lowering it.
China imposed a blue skies law a year or so ago that aimed at reducing pollution. It was so expensive to comply that many factories closed down and the reduction in supply affected global prices. Much of it just moved to India.
Complex issue with a thousand facets.