[danielharan]

Australia exports more like 7% of total fossil fuels by CO2, according to this: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-08-19/australia-co2...

[ceejayoz]

7% of fossil fuel and 7% of overall emissions aren’t the same thing, though.

[danielharan]

It's 7% of emissions caused by fossil fuels, not 7% of the fuels: coal is the worst of them.

Australia's emissions are smaller, however they enable much larger emissions elsewhere. Without that coal, India and China would be accelerating their transition to renewables.

[ceejayoz]

> It's 7% of emissions caused by fossil fuels

Which is still not the same thing as 7% of global greenhouse emissions. Plenty of non-fossil fuel sources for emissions, like burning trees, cows making methane, etc.

Even if Australia were responsible for 7% of global greenhouse emissions, ceasing wouldn't be enough.

[danielharan]

By that logic, no country's emissions matter, even China.

Meanwhile, if you want to convince other countries to reduce their emissions, it's much easier when you're part of the solution.