Per Capita CO2 Emissions (Before- & After-Trade) Rankings of G20 Countries 1993-2013

China has been the world's number one carbon emitter since 2006. However, the country complains that developed countries' consumption of made-in-China goods is to blame for a big part of its CO₂ emissions. It is true that China's export-driven manufacturing has led to dramatic increases in CO₂ emissions. So a recent study (Le Quéré et al., 2014) analyzed how big the difference between before- and after-trade emissions in each country is. In those consumer countries such as the United States and the developed countries in Europe, the after-trade (consumption-based) CO₂ emissions per capita should be larger than the before-trade (production-based) CO₂ emissions per capita.
Because I have compared energy intensities of G20 countries, I decided to compare the G20 members by their CO₂ emissions per capita both in before- and after-trade terms. It was a simple task. I have divided each country's emissions (Le Quéré et al., 2014) by their population (UN DESA, 2013). The following figures show the results.
Let's take a look at the Table below. In 2012, French people emitted 56% more CO₂ by consumption-based (after-trade) emissions (8.32 tCO₂/person/year) than that by production-based (before-trade) emissions (5.34 tCO₂/person/year). China's per capita emissions decrease significantly using the same comparison. In 2012, Chinese people emitted 5.84 tonnes of CO₂ per person by after-trade emissions, which is 16% less than the before-trade emissions (6.97 tCO₂/person/year). (See also Figure 1 & Figure 2).
How about comparing those G20 countries by rankings? Before the trade-adjustment (Figure 3), China ranked 17th among G20 countries by the production-based per capita CO₂ emissions in 1993. In 2013, the country ranked 6th.
After adjusting the emissions by international trade (Figure 4), it is a different story. China was No. 17 in 1993 by the after-trade emissions per capita. In 2012, it stepped up only three ranks (No. 14). By comparison, South Korea leaped up 6 ranks. It was No. 11 in 1993 before its rank rose to No. 5 in 2012. Russia beat China in terms of rank ascension. The country rose by 4 ranks from No. 12 to No. 8.

Table. Difference between Before-Trade Emissions and After-Trade Emissions
([Difference] = [B-A]/A, where
A: CO₂ emissions per person before trade-adjustment,
B: CO₂ emissions per person after trade-adjustment)

	1993	1995	2000	2005	2010	2011	2012
Argentina	5.1%	3.2%	-2.4%	-16.3%	-7.2%	-6.5%	-4.8%
Australia	-14.3%	-13.8%	-16.8%	-12.6%	-9.5%	-8.5%	-4.2%
Brazil	7.6%	10.3%	3.3%	-2.8%	8.4%	8.0%	6.1%
Canada	2.9%	2.6%	-0.3%	0.5%	11.0%	11.4%	12.1%
China	-6.0%	-11.1%	-11.9%	-19.2%	-16.9%	-16.4%	-16.3%
France	33.1%	31.9%	38.0%	39.6%	48.2%	56.0%	55.8%
Germany	27.4%	27.3%	24.0%	23.6%	22.6%	26.1%	23.9%
India	-4.9%	-6.2%	-10.2%	-9.0%	-8.1%	-8.9%	-9.8%
Indonesia	-8.7%	-7.1%	-14.3%	-7.7%	-1.5%	-3.0%	-1.3%
Italy	36.7%	31.0%	30.9%	29.5%	44.3%	48.8%	51.8%
Japan	21.5%	22.6%	22.7%	21.4%	25.8%	29.6%	27.2%
Korea, South	22.3%	17.3%	10.6%	22.3%	15.9%	14.7%	14.2%
Mexico	2.8%	-5.7%	6.4%	10.3%	5.1%	4.8%	3.0%
Russia	-38.8%	-27.6%	-30.6%	-23.7%	-18.4%	-19.1%	-18.3%
Saudi Arabia	-7.4%	-5.5%	-30.9%	-27.0%	-13.0%	-16.5%	-17.0%
South Africa	-28.8%	-28.1%	-26.6%	-27.9%	-25.7%	-26.6%	-25.1%
Turkey	40.6%	28.4%	15.3%	16.7%	16.6%	15.2%	10.8%
United Kingdom	13.1%	13.1%	20.7%	28.5%	30.7%	37.0%	35.2%
United States	-1.1%	-0.9%	4.9%	8.1%	6.8%	7.6%	8.7%
EU28	22.7%	20.0%	21.7%	24.1%	28.9%	32.7%	33.0%

Figure 1


Figure 2

Figure 3


Figure 4


References:

Le Quéré, C., et al. (2014). Global Carbon Budget 2014. Earth System Science Data Discussions, (In Review). [Full-text at http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essdd-7-521-2014; Data at http://cdiac.ornl.gov/GCP/]

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision. [Data at http://esa.un.org/wpp/]