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by bookofsand 1776 days ago
Under climate emission targets & global equity assumptions, western (#) lifestyle must end. In political terms, the western middle class lifestyle must end, the global elites will still ride their jets 'for the common good'.

According to WRI calculator, in 2018 world GHC emissions totaled 47.6 Gt. Paris accord 1.5C target is 25 Gt. Population in 2050 projected at 10 billion people. Back of the envelope calculation gives per capita target of 2.5 CO2e t. As of 2020, even countries with green electrical energy production (nuclear & renewables) like Sweden, Switzerland or France are still at 4.5, 4.7 and respectively 6.3 CO2e t/capita emissions.

As of 2021, there is no country with a western lifestyle and 2.5 CO2e t/capita emissions, closest being Sweden with 4.5 and Switzerland with 4.7. Perhaps a ray of hope, both these countries started at 8 CO2e t/capita 30 years ago in 1990.

(#) 'western' roughly includes Western Europe, North America, East Asia, Australia and Arabian Peninsula.

https://www.wri.org/insights/4-charts-explain-greenhouse-gas...

https://unepdtu.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/un-egr19-es-4...

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-electricity-fo...

https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-pe...

1 comments

What would a lifestyle look like that meets these targets?
Subsistence agriculture? Slums? Manhattan hyper density?

Cuba (2.68), Tunisia (2.60), Ecuador (2.43), Egypt (2.32), Brazil (2.25), Vietnam (2.20)?

None of that sounds particularly attractive. I would rather use nuclear, wind, or solar to capture the carbon until we figure out how to stop making so much of it.