Posted by
The Conservative Manifesto on Thursday, December 20, 2007 4:51:18 PM
Folks, you just couldn't make up this sort of irony if you tried.
One
would think that countries that committed to the Kyoto treaty are doing
a better job of curtailing carbon emissions. One would also think that
the United States, the only country that does not even intend to
ratify, keeps on emitting carbon dioxide at growth levels much higher
than those who signed.
And one would be wrong.
The Kyoto treaty was agreed upon in late 1997 and countries started signing and ratifying it in 1998. A list
of countries and their carbon dioxide emissions due to consumption of
fossil fuels is available from the U.S. government. If we look at that
data and compare 2004 (latest year for which data is available) to 1997
(last year before the Kyoto treaty was signed), we find the following.
* Emissions worldwide increased 18.0%.
* Emissions from countries that signed the treaty increased 21.1%.
* Emissions from non-signers increased 10.0%.
* Emissions from the U.S. increased 6.6%.
In
fact, emissions from the U.S. grew slower than those of over 75% of the
countries that signed Kyoto. Below are the growth rates of carbon
dioxide emissions, from 1997 to 2004, for a few selected countries, all
Kyoto signers. (Remember, the comparative number for the U.S. is 6.6%.)
* Maldives, 252%.
* Sudan, 142%.
* China, 55%.
* Luxembourg, 43%
* Iran, 39%.
* Iceland, 29%.
* Norway, 24%.
* Russia, 16%.
* Italy, 16%.
* Finland, 15%.
* Mexico, 11%.
* Japan, 11%.
* Canada, 8.8%.
World
and U.S. opinion seems to revolve around who signed Kyoto rather than
actual carbon dioxide emissions. Once again, stated intent trumps
actual results. Can even the global warming believers possibly believe
this treaty has anything to do with it?
Hat tip:
Crush Liberalism