Taiwan's Contribution to Climate Change

An Excel made graph on Carbon Dioxide Concentration (PPM) in the U.S.A.

An Excel made graph on Total Fossil Fuel Emission on 6 different countries. Information is take from Boden, T.A., G. Marland, and R.J. Andres. 2013. Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions.
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A.
DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/00001_V2013 (Source: CDIAC)

Taiwan's Fossil Fuel Emissions from 1896 to 2010. Information is take from Boden, T.A., G. Marland, and R.J. Andres. 2013. Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions.Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A.
DOI: 10.3334/CDIAC/00001_V2013 (Source: CDIAC)

Taiwan's fossil fuel emissions are relatively low compared to some countries. An unusual result is solids take up most of Taiwan's fossil fuel emissions and I found it interesting.

Taiwan started emitting a lot of CO2 starting around 1975 with liquid CO2 but they have gotten better, but around 2002 was when Taiwan released more CO2 from solids.

Taiwan emitted 39.7 million tons of CO2 in 2007 – the highest of any power plant in the world.

Based on statistics from Energy International Administration, the annual CO2 emissions in Taiwan have increased 42% from 1997 until 2006. Taiwan has limited natural resources and relies heavily on imports to meet its energy needs, and the government must take serious measures control energy consumption to reduce CO2 emissions. (Source: Applied Energy)

Taiwan had an average of 3.1 metric tons of carbon per person which is about 63% compared to the U.S. For how small Taiwan is but having such a big effect is because as stated above Taiwan does not have many natural resources so it relies on other countries.

Taiwan’s is ranked 25 in the country’s rank based on per capita CO2 emissions. While the U.S. is ranked 12.

To be honest I’m very surprised on how high Taiwan is ranked in CO2 emissions per capita because of how small of a country it is but also at the same time how much CO2 is emitted from this tiny country.

Taiwan is nothing compared to how much fossil fuel emissions are given off by the U.S. and China. Taiwan is a small steady line and increases maybe 125,000,000 metric tons of carbon from 1970 to 2008.

United states was the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2008.

Comparing that the U.S has a population of 312,000,000 and China has a population of 1,338,000,000 but the United States is keeping up with China in CO2 emissions then an American citizen is more at fault for emitting more CO2.

Cumulative metric tons of carbon given off by 6 countries since 1900.

U.S.A. - 94,225,770,000 metric tons of carbon

China - 36,152,061,000 metric tons of carbon

India - 10,229,326,000 metric tons of carbon

Italy - 5,579,562,000 metric tons of carbon

Kenya - 86,840,000 metric tons of carbon

Taiwan - 1,708,585,000 metric tons of carbon

U.S.A. is responsible for the most cumulative CO2 emissions.

China/U.S.A. 

36,152,061,000/

94,225,770,000 = 38.37%

China/India 

36,152,061,000/

10,229,326,000 = 353.42%

China/Italy 

36,152,061,000/

5,579,562,000 = 647.93%

China/Kenya 

36,152,061,000/

86,840,000 = 41,630.66%

China/Taiwan 

36,152,061,000/

1,708,585,000 = 2,115.91%

China has at least tripled four other countries' total amount of CO2 emissions since 1900 except the U.S.A.. The U.S. has tripled what China has put into the air which means the U.S. has sextupled the other four countries! That is a lot of carbon given off by just two countries and not considering all the other countries on Earth.

The Keeling Curve compared to the global emissions of carbon are similar in shape. While the Keeling Curve is a constant rise in concentrations the global emissions is also a constant rise in metric tons of carbon but at a sharper rate.

The difference between a emission and concentration is an emission is how much of a specific pollutant is released into the air while concentration is the amount of pollutants in the atmosphere in a volume unit rather than metric tons. Concentration is also used to express how the air quality is. (Source: Emission vs. Concentration)