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Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the main cause of global warming – increased by 3% in 2011, reaching an all-time high of 34 billion tonnes in 2011. In 2011, China’s average per capita carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased by 9% to 7.2 tonnes CO2¬, whereas these emissions in the European Union declined by 4 % to 7.5 tonnes CO2, bringing for the first time Europe’s and China’s CO2 emissions on similar levels. China, the world’s most populous country, is now well within the 6 to 19 tonnes/person range spanned by the major industrialised countries. In comparison, in 2011, the United States was still one of the largest emitters of CO2, with 16.5 tonnes in per capita emissions, after a steep decline mainly caused by the recession in 2008-2009, high oil prices compared to low fuel taxes and an increased share of natural gas. This is one of the main findings of the annual report ‘Trends in global CO2 emissions’, released today by PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).
Jos et al. (2012) studied this question.