Part Three / How it Affects Us

3.8 We are not all in the same boat

All online sources accessed on

  1. If everyone lived like we do in Sweden World Wildlife Fund, Living Planet Report 2016: Risk and Resilience in a New Era, 26 October 2016, https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/living-planet-report-2016.

    less energy … than a standard American refrigerator Bryce, R., A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations (New York: PublicAffairs, 2020).

  2. lowered its territorial emissions by 43 per cent World Wildlife Fund, Carbon Footprint: Exploring the UK’s Contribution to Climate Change, March 2020, https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-04/FINAL-WWF-UK_Carbon_Footprint_Analysis_Report_March_2020%20%28003%29.pdf.

    more like 23 per cent https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uks-carbon-footprint.

    13.2 million tonnes of CO2 released … at Drax Cockburn, H., ‘UK’s biggest carbon emitter Drax “greenwashing” wood-fired power at COP26’, Independent, 12 November 2021, https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/drax-greenwashing-cop26-wood-emissions-b1956072.html

    emissions associated with the military Ambrose, T., ‘World’s militaries avoiding scrutiny over emissions, scientists say’, Guardian, 11 November 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/11/worlds-militaries-avoiding-scrutiny-over-emissions.

    570 million barrels of oil and gas each year Oil and Gas Authority, UK Oil and Gas Reserves and Resources as at End 2020, 22 September 2021, https://www.ogauthority.co.uk/media/7764/rr-report_final-22-september-2021.pdf.

    they have actually increased Swedish territorial emissions have decreased by 20.64 million tons between 1990 and 2019. The Swedish biogenic territorial emissions have increased by 26.87 million tons and international aviation and shipping has increased by 5.8 million tons, during the same period of time. The statistic timeline for Swedish consumption-based emissions abroad starts at 2008. Between 2008 and 2019 the consumption-based emissions abroad have decreased by 10.9 million tons. Total summary: Increase of Swedish emissions 1990-2019, when including consumption-based emissions abroad (where timeline starts later): 1.13 million tons. Increase of emissions 1990-2019, when excluding consumption-based emissions abroad: 12.03 million tons. https://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/sv/ssd/START__MI__MI0107/TotaltUtslappN/.

    1.2°C of global average temperature rise World Meteorological Organization, State of the Global Climate 2020, 2021, https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10618.

  3. One third of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions Global Carbon Project, ‘Data supplement to the global carbon budget 2021’, 2021, https://doi.org/10.18160/gcp-2021.

    a recent investigation by The Washington Post Mooney, C., et al., ‘Countries’ climate pledges built on flawed data, Post investigation finds’, Washington Post, 7 November 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2021/greenhouse-gas-emissions-pledges-data/.

    up to 23 per cent of our total CO2 emissions are missing Muyskens, J., et al., ‘Measuring the invisible: how the Post did its global emissions analysis’, Washington Post, 7 November 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/11/07/invisible-methodology-measuring-emissions-gap/.

    We are heading for 3.2°C of global warming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Working Group III Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. P. R. Shukla et al. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, in press), https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/.