patrick.net

Meh, what a load of propaganda from the American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing propaganda tank in Washington. AEI did not even show reduction PER CAPITA, because if they did, US would NOT be on the top of the list.

For a much more informative view of emissions, consider instead the absolute levels of greenhouse gas emissions PER CAPITA, as shown here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_greenhouse_gas_emissions_per_capita

The US already consume and produce way too much per capita, and when you are a big country, the AEI kind of statistic can easily be generated, ignoring both the absolute levels of emission and the historical cumulative emissions. And per capita is always important.

Additionally, it is estimated that 1/6th of China CO2 emission is for making goods exported to the US.

justme says

Meh, what a load of propaganda from the American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing propaganda tank in Washington. AEI did not even show reduction PER CAPITA, because if they did, US would NOT be on the top of the list.

Did the US reduce emissions or not?

Did Canada and the EU (both signatories of the Paris Climate Agreements) increase or decrease their emissions?

Data is not fudged base on "Per Capita", it's "Per Liberals" in their official Memo, er I mean Study!

Why not compute it at a “per billionaire environmentalist?” Or compare such to normal working Americans?
How about compare environmental lawyers to oil rig workers? Or pet groomers? Per capita is way too imprecise of a measurement.

It's nice that they label the graph "CO2 Emissions" Some call them "Carbon emissions". The same people who say "carbon emissions" in error will then say "He's a science denier!"

Additionally, it is estimated that 1/6th of China CO2 emission is for making goods exported to the US.

Then add the "carbon footprint" of shipping it here. Good thing Trump is working on lowering the imports from China. Best practice would be to import goods only from nations with similar labor and environmental laws as the US, otherwise you just offshore the work to high polluting slave labor factories.

Since people activities are the source of the pollution tons per capita would sound like a fair comparison of effort people are doing.

But I suspect Americans pollute more than most to start with, so they have low hanging fruits when it's time to cut back.

Maybe better measure how much tons per capita actually remains.

Still nice to see an effort.

Heraclitusstudent says

Since people activities are the source of the pollution tons per capita would sound like a fair comparison of effort people are doing.

Are we going to normalize for GDP per capita as well?

It is not exactly apples to apples to compare the richest people in the world in the US to 3rd world and developing countries.

Regardless, the US is reducing their emissions while much of the "Civilized World TM" who constantly harp on America's commitment to reducing greenhouse gases are still increasing their carbon output.

I see from other sources Europe emissions were down not up. Not sure what the discrepancy is.
Disappointing was China.

People do realize we need CO2 in order for plants to be healthy...

The moral of the story is this: if you need to emit carbon, be sure to wipe thoroughly afterwards!

Heraclitusstudent says

Disappointing was China.

Disappointing? It was expected behavior and could be seen from 1000 miles away.

Hassan_Rouhani says

Disappointing? It was expected behavior and could be seen from 1000 miles away.

Expected or not, it is disappointing.
But explain why it could be seen "from 1000 miles away". Their emissions had been down for a couple of years.

socal2 says

Regardless, the US is reducing their emissions while much of the "Civilized World TM" who constantly harp on America's commitment to reducing greenhouse gases are still increasing their carbon output.

One of the best examples of doublethink:

1. Look at the Germans, they have so much wind!
2. The Germans need another Nordstream from Russia! They need their natural gas!

Well if the Germans are making such huge strides in Wind...