What are the countries with the smallest carbon footprint per capita in the world?
Global warming is accelerating and influencing climate change across the world, with storms becoming scarier than ever and ice caps melting at an alarming rate, so we wanted to find the countries that are least responsible for some of the issues.
Why would we be interested in the greenhouse gas emissions per capita levels? Because those countries that pollute less contribute less to global warming, hopefully counteracting the highest polluters in the world, such as Qatar, or Kuwait, or the United States of America.
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Since the CO2 emissions per capita for 2016 were not available, we had to make our list with the CO2 emissions per capita for 2015, as provided by the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) of the European Union.
The data provides information on the CO2 emissions by country for 2015, a year when the total emissions reached 4.931 tons of CO2 per capita worldwide. Unfortunately, there’s not yet a list of carbon emissions by country for 2016, much less for CO2 emissions by country for 2017.
If you’re interested in this topic, you might also want to read up on the 15 Countries that Are the Biggest Contributors to Global Warming and Climate Change, or about the 8 Countries that Produce the Most Carbon Dioxide in the World.
EDGAR is a joint project of the European Commission’s JRC Joint Research Center, and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. The data takes into consideration numerous emissions affecting air quality, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, and more. The same formula is applied to all countries in the world, and takes into consideration each country’s population. The Paris Agreement, the one the Trump administration said would back out of before dumping that idea, is supposed to have all countries of the world report frequent updates of inventories and nationally determined mitigation options.
The purpose of it all is to eventually lower greenhouse gas emissions and slow down the global warming phenomenon. Of course, global warming is a natural stage that the Earth goes through, but in the past century the speed with which this change has happened has been so accelerated that the only conclusion that can be drawn is that humans are influencing it. More specifically, CO2 and other gases collect in the atmosphere, creating a greenhouse effect. This means that the light rays can’t escape our atmosphere as efficient as before and, thus, the Earth’s temperatures rise.
That being said, here are the 10 countries with the smallest carbon footprint per capita in the world.
10. Rwanda
Emissions – 0.12
According to data, Rwanda’s CO2 emissions in 2015 reached 0.12 metric tonnes per capita. The numbers are higher than they were in 2010 when the reported number was of 0.11 metric tons.
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9. Central African Republic
Emissions – 0.11
The Central African Republic is up next on our list with emissions reaching 0.11 metric tonnes per capita. Here, the numbers have been pretty much constant over the years, with 2010 seeing the same exact value.
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8. Niger
Emissions – 0.11
Niger is yet another African country that boasts with low levels of CO2 emissions per capita on our list of countries with the smallest carbon footprint per capita in the world. In 2015, as well as in 2010, we saw the same 0.11 metric tons per capita.
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7. Malawi
Emissions – 0.10
Malawi is up next on our list of countries with the smallest carbon footprint per capita, but we’re going just a step lower this time. In fact, in 2015 Malawi reported values of only 0.10 metric tons of CO2 per capita, the same it had in 2010.
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6. Chad
Emissions – 0.10
Chad is up next on the list with 0.10 metric tons of CO2 per capita in 2015. Unlike the other nations, we’re seeing a slight increase in emissions here, as in 2010 the CO2 levels were measured at 0.09 metric tons per capita.
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5. Ethiopia
Emissions – 0.10
We’re seeing that the African continent is the greenest of all, although that’s probably in part due to the lower industrialization found here and vast lands. In Ethiopia, for instance, 2015 saw a level of CO2 emissions of 0.10 metric tons per capita. The climb here was larger than in other nations before it, as in 2010 the levels were of only 0.07 metric tons of CO2 per capita.
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4. Burundi
Emissions – 0.10
Burundi is a nation that’s next on our list, with CO2 emissions of 0.10 metric tons per capita in 2015. The country has been constant in its pollution, as the 2010 levels were the same as in 2015 and the same as in 1995.
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3. Mali
Emissions – 0.09
Going even lower, we have Mali, a nation that has CO2 emissions of a mere 0.09 metric tons per capita in 2015, making it one of the countries with the smallest carbon footprint per capita in the world. The same value was seen in 2010 and even in 1995, with a slight dip in between.
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2. Puerto Rico
Emissions – 0.08
Central American nation Puerto Rico is the only place in the region to be on our list. The nation’s 0.08 metric tons of CO2 emissions per capita are the result of a lot of hard work. While it has never really polluted a lot, not like other countries in the Americas, Puerto Rico’s CO2 emission levels were 0.25 metric tons per capita back in 2000 and 2005. Since 2010, however, they’ve managed to keep the 0.08 metric tons of CO2 emissions currently reported.’
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1. Congo
Emissions – 0.06
Finally, at the top of our list we have Congo, a nation whose CO2 emissions for 2015 hit 0.06 metric tons per capita, the smallest in the world. The country’s emission levels have gone up slightly since 2010 when the values reported were of 0.05 metric tons of CO2 per capita, but lower than back in 1995 when the value was of 0.07 metric tons per capita.
To help you see the bigger picture, Qatar’s emissions for 2015 stood at 39.74 metric tons of CO2 per capita, followed at a distance by Trinidad and Tobago with 25.94 metric tons per capita, and Kuwait with 24.41 metric tons per capita. The United States’ CO2 levels were measured at 16.07 metric tons per capita and China’s of 11.94 metric tons.
When taking into consideration the quantity of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, the chart would look different. The fact that we’re taking into account the number of citizens too changes the chart quite bit.
That being said, these have been the 10 countries with the smallest carbon footprint per capita in the world.
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