Question 1

Britain is a just small country, surely we haven’t caused much global warming?

Elizabeth Smith · Accepted Answer

The UK is among those countries with very high historical emissions. We have made a much bigger contribution to the climate crisis than other countries with large populations, such as China and India. Our current UK carbon emissions figure doesn’t include ‘hidden’ carbon - the fossil fuels used to make all the goods we now import from overseas. [Source: Gdn, bookmarked]. And our appetite for beef, soy, palm oil, rubber, cocoa, coffee and wood pulp is destroying vast areas of forest across South America, South East Asia, and Africa, adding a further 40% to our real carbon emissions.

Question 2

Britain is a just small country, surely we haven’t caused much global warming?

Elizabeth Smith · Accepted Answer

The UK is among those countries with very high historical emissions. We have made a much bigger contribution to the climate crisis than other countries with large populations, such as China and India. Our current UK carbon emissions figure doesn’t include ‘hidden’ carbon - the fossil fuels used to make all the goods we now import from overseas. [Source: Gdn, bookmarked]. And our appetite for beef, soy, palm oil, rubber, cocoa, coffee and wood pulp is destroying vast areas of forest across South America, South East Asia, and Africa, adding a further 40% to our real carbon emissions.