Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People

Country1900-2005 Emissions (% of 2008 Pop. (millions)world total)United States 30% 304.1Former Soviet Union 13% 276.3China 9% 1,324.7Germany 7% 82.1United Kingdom 5% 61.4Japan 4% 127.7France 3% 62.3India 2% 1,140.0Canada 2% 33.3Italy 2% 59.8Australia 1% 21.4Mexico 1% 106.4Belgium 0.87% 10.7South Korea 0.86% 48.6Brazil 0.85% 192.0Indonesia 0.58% 227.3Finland 0.22% 5.3Pakistan 0.22% 166.1Nigeria 0.20% 151.2New Zealand 0.12% 4.3Luxembourg 0.06% 0.5Bangladesh 0.05% 160.0Ethiopia 0.009% 80.7Table 2: Total CO 2 Emissions in 1900-2005 and 2008 Population 61Climate justice activists refer to this historic inequality among carbon emissions as “ecologicaldebt” or “emissions debt”—a debt of increased economic capacity and wealth that“industrialized nations… owe the rest of the world as a result of their appropriation of theplanet's capacity to absorb greenhouse gases.” 62This term is defined by Jubilee South asfollows: ‘Emissions debt ’is the debt incurred by Northern countries to the countries andpeoples of the South through the overuse and substantial diminishing of the Earth’s capacity toabsorb greenhouse gases. It rests on the principle that all people have an equal right and equalshare to the planet’s ‘atmospheric space,’ or ‘carbon space,’ referring to the earth’s capacity toabsorb greenhouse gases. In an initial assessment, the fair share of each country is determinedin per capita terms. Reparations for this debt, in order to reflect the North’s historicand present excessive contributions to climate change, should be in the form ofdeep domestic emission cuts, so as to return to the South its fair share ofatmospheric space, as well as providing the South with the necessary technology andfinancing for adaptation and mitigation. [Italics added] 63Page | 21