Question 15.27

13. The accompanying table shows the annual growth rate for the years 2000–2011 in per capita emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and the annual growth rate in real GDP per capita for selected countries.

Country 2000–2011 average annual growth rate of:
Real GDP per capita CO2 emissions per capita
Argentina 2.25% 2.95%
Bangladesh 4.16 6.52
Canada 1.10 −0.33
China 10.72 9.31
Germany 1.25 −1.20
Ireland 0.57 −0.96
Japan 0.59 −0.16
South Korea 3.74 3.06
Mexico 0.79 1.72
Nigeria 5.93 −0.55
Russia 5.08 1.61
South Africa 2.73 1.63
United Kingdom 1.05 −1.09
United States 0.74 −0.60

Data from: Energy Information Administration; The Conference Board.

  1. Rank the countries in terms of their growth in CO2 emissions, from highest to lowest. What five countries have the highest growth rate in emissions? What five countries have the lowest growth rate in emissions?

  2. Now rank the countries in terms of their growth in real GDP per capita, from highest to lowest. What five countries have the highest growth rate? What five countries have the lowest growth rate?

  3. Would you infer from your results that CO2 emissions are linked to growth in output per capita?

  4. Do high growth rates necessarily lead to high CO2 emissions?