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Wednesday, June 7, 2023 | 
Opinion Letters

Opinion: The U.S. has higher carbon emissions than we thought

Population counts when it comes to carbon emissions, and it changes up the rankings when we look at the numbers per capita

By Readers’ Forum
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A coal-fired power plant is pictured on Jan. 16, 2020. Carbon emissions are still a concern in the United States.

A coal-fired power plant is pictured on Jan. 16, 2020. Carbon emissions are still a concern in the United States when we look at the numbers per capita.

Martin Meissner, Associated Press

In an April 21 Deseret News article titled “Why Cox got fired up over fossil fuel development and climate change,” Gov. Spencer Cox implies that China and India have more carbon emissions than the U.S. China does have the highest carbon emissions, and unlike the U.S., China’s annual emissions are increasing, but the U.S. still has significantly more per capita carbon emissions than China and India.

According to the World Population Review, the 2020 CO2 annual per capita emissions for China and India are 8.2 metric tons and 1.7 metric tons, respectively, while the U.S. is reaching 13.7 metric tons.

Russell Patterson

West Valley City