What we're doing wrong

Carbon Hogs Inc.

1st December 2007

An international survey shows that 57 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants come from just 100 facilities - and one in Georgia, USA, produces as much CO2 as the entire energy sector of Brazil

---

Which power plants are the worst polluters? Last month, Carbon Monitoring for Action released the first global catalogue of such carbon dioxide emitters. Some interesting results from its survey of more than 50,000 plants: Just 100 companies produce 57 per cent of global emissions – and one American plant in Georgia, owned by Southern Company, pollutes more than the entire energy sector of Brazil. This year, the developing world will also overtake the developed world in total emissions.

The aim of the database, created in association with the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C., is to inspire a switch to clean energy. But, according to project leader David Wheeler, there is a big gap between political rhetoric and real change – his research reveals that hundreds of dirty, coal-fired plants are still in development all over the world.

Despite troubling results, Mr. Wheeler insists that his list is not a “blame game.”

“This is now a matter of mutual survival,” he says, “and we need to work out a co-operative plan to avoid a climate crisis.”

Published in The Green Report in The Globe and Mail

---

• Tags:
• America
• Climate Change
• CO2
• Energy

---