Energy-driven economies with small populations often bear the brunt of public criticism for CO2 emissions when people discuss emissions per capita. This metric masks the global contribution of emissions from major economies. When we look at CO2 emissions per capita, we see countries like Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Brunei, Trinidad and Tobago, Oman, Saudi Arabia, New Caledonia, and Gibraltar. Of these nations, only Saudi Arabia individually accounts for more than 1% of global CO2 emissions. Trinidad and Tobago, sixth on this list, only accounts for 0.08% of total global CO2 emissions.
The top ten emitters per capita, in total, account for just 3.3% of global emissions. A key commonality among these top emitters is that they have large energy sectors but very small populations. With the exception of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, this group has an average population of about two million people.
Emissions per capita is calculated by dividing total emissions by population size. This theoretically shows how much one person generates. Using emissions per capita as the sole measure of a country's contribution to climate change is problematic because it fails to account for several critical factors. While it can show the average individual's environmental footprint, it presents an incomplete and potentially misleading picture.
Conversely, the countries with the largest total emissions are China, the USA, India, Russia, Japan, Indonesia, Iran, Germany, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the only country that appears on both top 10 lists. These ten countries account for 71% of global emissions. China by itself is responsible for 34% of global emissions, followed at a distance by the USA, which accounts for 13%. China is obviously a manufacturing powerhouse and the number one exporter in the world. Europe as a whole produces about 8% of global CO2 emissions.
A central issue with CO2 per capita is that for countries with a strong hydrocarbon sector but a small population, per capita emissions data is often based on production, not consumption. This means the emissions from extracting, processing, and exporting fossil fuels are attributed to the producing country. In small nations with large oil and gas sectors, these industrial emissions are significant, but they are divided by a very small population, resulting in an extremely high per capita figure. The majority of the oil and gas is exported and used elsewhere, but the emissions are counted against the country of origin.
For example, in Trinidad and Tobago, all of the crude oil produced is exported to be refined and turned into other products in other countries. For natural gas, 45% is used in the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is exported. Almost 40% of the natural gas from Trinidad and Tobago is used to produce methanol and ammonia, nearly all of which is exported and used in other countries.
The CO2 emissions per capita metric, while seemingly straightforward, is a misleading tool for assessing a country's climate change contribution. It disproportionately highlights small, energy-producing nations like Trinidad and Tobago, attributing to them the emissions from products they export for consumption elsewhere. This overlooks the fundamental principle that climate change is driven by total global emissions, not per capita figures.
Small energy-based economies should, however, also be part of the solution as a global effort is needed to address climate change. The process for the production of hydrocarbons and petrochemicals can be made more efficient and reduce emissions, further lowering global emissions. For a country like T&T, carbon capture and sequestration is an option to reduce the emissions associated with the production of oil and gas. In addition, the development of renewable energy can offset the natural gas which is used in the generation of electricity. Renewable energy can also be used in the creation of “green” hydrogen which can be used to reduce emissions in the petrochemical sector.