You have touched on the real issue with fighting Climate Change, no one can stop 3rd world countries (and/or portions on their population) wanting to become 1st world. Firstly it's immoral to say you can't have what we have, and secondly it's impossible to enforce.
Just an example, access to refrigeration is considered one of the most important measures of a country's progress out of 3rd world conditions. Around 220 million Chinese do not have access to refrigeration, in India it's around 955 million, that requires electricity with China building 100 new coal fired power stations this year and India 40. That's why comparing emissions by population is a furphy when not all of the population has access to emissions producing appliances. In India 100% of its emissions are produced by ~30% of its population, statistics at work.
Comparing a country's CO2 emission by population is nothing more than a measure of its development and as China and India continue to develop their emissions by person will ultimately increase. The fact is China is currently #1 in CO2 emissions and India is #3 and by 2030 China is projected to produce over 50% of the world's CO2 emissions. Based on population India, with a large % of its population currently underdeveloped, will eventually surpass China as the world's #1 emitter.
Always a Bulldog
That's a good point. Especially in India where the caste system leads to massive polarisation. We also can't control population or poverty in other countries. I once copped a ban from Facebook because someone asked me the most effective way to stop climate change, and I said, "obviously it's not an option, but the quickest way would be to nuke China"
The issue I have with Australians pushing climate denial isn't because we have a large impact on climate change (we don't), it's because:
1) it makes us look bad on the global scale. When ScoMo served as PM, Australia were seen as a climate villain. Even China were laughing at us because they are way ahead of us in the transition to renewables (51% VS 32%)
2) we have the resources to become a renewable export powerhouse. But we refuse to because we would rather delay the inevitable death of coal as the primary resource. We could be future proofing the Australian economy, but we won't
We rely on China for a large amount of our energy exports. With China transitioning faster than any other country, eventually they won't need our resources. Which means that we'll sell coal to 3rd world countries for 10% of our current sale value. By then it will be too late to transition our economic system.
