Myth:

Emissions from China and India will overwhelm any reductions achieved by the rest of the world, so nations like Australia are wasting their time taking action on climate.

Fact:

China and India are nowhere near as responsible for the problem of climate change as the wealthier nations are. Most of the CO2 in the atmosphere was put there by the nations of Europe and North America, so it is incumbent on them to take the lead when it comes to solving the problem. Australia, with the second-largest greenhouse gas emissions per capita among the OECD nations, is also responsible for a disproportionately high level of CO2. It has a moral responsibility to rectify this. 

It’s also not true to say that nations like China and India are doing nothing to fix the problem. Both are emitting far less CO2 per capita than the OECD nations did, at a similar stage of development. China, for example, already gets about 40 percent of its electricity from wind, solar and hyro power, and is at the forefront of the EV revolution.

Of course, that does not stop climate sceptics in countries like Australia from blaming China for being the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Yet they see no problem with selling China the coal and gas that are the source of its emissions.

A wind farm in a remote part of China. [Source: Flickr]

Sources:

Simon Holmes a’Court, “When it comes to emissions, the ‘too small to matter’ argument is absurd, reckless and morally bankrupt,” The Guardian, 9/1/20

Hannah Broadbent, “Australia has highest coal power emissions per capita in the world,” Renew Economy, 11/11/21

Tara Subramaniam, “The world needs India to avert climate catastrophe. Can Modi deliver?” CNN, 8/12/22

Fiona Harvey, “Who are the polluter elite and how can we tackle carbon inequality?” The Guardian, 23/11/23

Damian Carrington, “Revealed: the huge climate impact of the middle classes,” The Guardian, 21/12/23

Joshua S. Hill, “India adds record 22 gigawatts of wind and solar in first half of 2025,” Renew Economy, 22/7/25

Laura Paddison, “China is the clean energy superpower, but there’s another snapping at its heels — and it’s moving even faster,” CNN, 11/2/26