If the average American had the carbon emissions of the average EU citizen, the country’s emissions would fall by 60%. That’s a huge amount. EU citizens live pretty well – and thanks to a few good policies, tend to have better standards in respect to things like healthcare, working weeks and education. Most people would be pretty happy living this way.
Since the average Australian and Canadian’s emissions are similar to the US, the same goes for these countries.
EU per capita CO2 emissions (metric tons) = 6.4
Australia per capita CO2 emissions = 15.4
USA per capita CO2 emissions = 16.5
Canada per capita CO2 emissions = 15.2
To tease some of those European countries out:
United Kingdom = 6.5
Netherlands = 9.9 (we have work to do Dutchies!)
Germany = 8.9
Denmark = 5.9
France = 4.6
For interest, China = 7.5
This data is from the latest available at the World Bank (2014).
