3 Myths You Should Know About CO2 Emissions

3 MYTHS YOU KNOW ABOUT Carbon Dioxide Emissions & Global Climate Crisis

MYTH 1: Developing countries emit more CO2 under rapid economic development.

FACTS The size of the economy matters for country's total CO2 emissions.

PATTERNS Lower Income (developing) countries have less ton per capita CO2 emissions while High Income countries continue leading the CO2 per capita emissions, both annually and in the past 25 years.

SIZE OF ECONOMY IS ACCOUNT FOR TOTAL CO2 EMISSIONS

ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION CAN BE SEEN THROUGH THE CHANGE IN TOTAL CARBON EMISSION

BUT, HIGH INCOME COUNTRIES ARE LEADING PER CAPITA EMISSION OVER THE PAST 25 YEARS

HIGH INCOME COUNTRIES ALSO LEAD PER CAPITA EMISSION EACH YEAR

EVERY COUNTRY, NO MATTER HOW DEVELOPED IT IS, IS RESPONSIBLE TO REDUCE CO2 EMISSION.

MYTH 2: More CO2 emissions, more deaths caused by air pollution.

FACTS CO2 emissions contribute to the severity of pm2.5 pollutant that causes death, but only to a certain level.

PATTERNS There is a higher Value of a Statistical Life over 10 tonnes per capita but an opposite pattern is shown below 10, especially among High Income countries.

IT SEEMS THAT THERE IS A POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN CO2 PER CAPITA EMISSIONS AND MORTALITY CAUSED BY AIR POLLUTION

BUT SUCH A CORRELATION REVERSES AT THE LEVEL OF 10 TONNES PER CAPITA, AND ONLY HIGH INCOME COUNTRIES ARE AT THIS LEVEL.

CO2 EMISSIONS EFFECT THE SEVERITY OF AIRPOLLUTION RELATED DEATH, BUT ONLY TO A CERTAIN DEGREE. HIGH INCOME COUNTRIES SUFFER MORE FROM NON-CO2 AIR-POLLUTED DISEASES.

MYTH 3: Under the Paris Agreement, emerging economy countries are reducing their reliance on fossil fuels over time as they become more developed.

FACTS For most countries, energy structure is limited by the access to resources; some countries, such as landlocked countries in Middle East, electricity production relies 100% on fossil fuels.

PATTERNS High Income countries reduce slightly the percentage of electricity generated by fossil fuels over all, but Denmark has the greatest increase.

Lower income countries increased over the past 25 years, but 4 of them reduced more than 50%.

OVERALL, HIGH INCOME COUNTRIES ARE FINDING WAYS TO REDUCE ENERGY PRODUCTION BY OIL, NATURAL GAS AND COAL.

BUT 4 LOWER INCOME COUNTRIES (HAITI,TANZANIA,HO NDURAS,SRI LANKA) HAVE REDUCED MORE THAN 50% OF ITS ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION BY FOSSIL FUEL FROM 1990.

SURPRISINGLY, HIGH INCOME COUNTRY DENMARK HAS INCREASED 64% .