How fast is the World's Center of CO2 Emissions Moving Eastwards?

Nicole Andréa Mathys, University of Neuchâtel and Swiss Federal Office of Energy
Grether Jean-Marie

Abstract

Borrowing from physics the concept of center of mass and applying it to the distribution of CO2 anthropogenic sources provided by the EDGAR data base, we can draw on the Earth’s surface the trajectory of the world’s pollution center of gravity over the 1970-2005 period. It is strongly heading to the East, and more so than GDP, which suggests that Asian production is getting more CO2 intensive than Western production.