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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/18/the-big-emitters-which-countries-are-holding-back-climate-action-and-why>
"This year will be the 30th UN climate summit – known as the conference of the
parties (Cop) – and it is being held in Brazil. Every climate summit is crucial
but Cop30 is taking place during extremely challenging times.
The US has pulled out of the Paris agreement, under which the world’s countries
agreed to hold global temperature rises to “well below” 2C above preindustrial
levels while “pursuing efforts” to limit heating to 1.5C.
Israel has bombed Iran, one of the global oil superpowers, while the EU, one of
the champions of climate action, has been beset on multiple fronts by member
states and parties that want the bloc to row back on emissions rules and
environmental regulations.
So we thought it was a good time to take a look at the world’s biggest emitting
countries, and their plans – constructive or otherwise – for addressing their
carbon emissions. Some are autocracies, some democracies tumbling towards
rightwing populism, some are straining to hold together a consensus on climate
action. We will be profiling each of the top 10 emitters – according to Global
Carbon Budget – over the coming months, in the run-up to Cop30.
To kick off the series, the
Guardian’s environment editor, Fiona Harvey, has
interviewed some of the world’s leading thinkers about how to negotiate with
autocracies. We have also done a deep dive on Russia, “the canary in the
coalmine”, according to one source.
In future weeks, we will cover South Korea, India, the United States, Germany,
Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, and Indonesia – seeking a deeper
understanding of how the pieces are going to fall in this crucial year for
climate action."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
