According to UK based global risks analyst, Maplecroft, Australia has overtaken the USA in per capita carbon emissions and is now classified most at risk out of 185 countries, according to their CO2 Energy Emissions Index.
Maplecroft states Australians are responsible for 20.58 tons of carbon dioxide per person annually, whereas Americans emit 19.78 tons and Canadians, 18.81 tons per person.
While we are often quick to point the finger at the environmental record of other countries such as China, the Chinese only emit 4.5 tons per person each year – even though many of our local companies essentially outsource our own pollution to them with manufacturing.
What Maplecroft terms "Australia’s poor environmental performance" is compounded by our ranking of 33 out of 135 countries in Maplecroft’s Unsustainable Energy Index (UEI). Australia is rated as extreme risk, with the only other industrialised developed nations ranked worse being Belgium and the Netherlands.
The UEI assesses a country’s risk of being unable to obtain energy from low carbon sources such as solar power and wind energy; as well as operating, investing and lending in an energy intensive economy.
With Australia only just starting to make inroads with appreciable financial support for proven renewable energy technologies compared to subsidies for fossil fuel and funding for the quest for clean coal that will not bear fruit anytime soon, the country is likely to remain "most wanted" on the carbon emission hit list for a while to come.
Read more of Maplecroft’s report here (PDF)
