Carbon Emissions, 1990 - 2009

In an article titled "O Canada", The Economist points out that Canada recently withdrew from the Kyoto protocol. The Kyoto protocol does not apply to the world's two largest emitters (China and the US). The huge increase in emission by countries like China, Turkey, Australia and Spain are cause for concern and make it more difficult to engage in future climate treaties. Domestic energy policies focused on a low carbon economy are the best way to go, but these seem to be the most difficult politically. Since about 2/3 of global greenhouse gas emissions comes from energy, any serious effort to reduce emissions is going to have to come from reducing fossil fuel consumption and increasing renewable energy. Climate change, energy security, peak oil, new technology and green consumers are all examples of big drivers of renewable energy. Green jobs, a topic that is very much discussed by politicians, is not necessarily a good argument to put forth.We still have time to build a clean and secure energy future, but the window of opportunity is closing fast.

Renewables are the fastest growing component of the energy mix, but renewables account for a small proportion of total energy demand.

Data sourced from REN21