Ember, an independent climate and energy think tank focused on accelerating the global electricity transition revealed that India is the world’s second-largest consumer of coal-based power, but its per capita emission is considerably less than the global average, a fraction of what some of the world’s richest countries – such as the United States and Australia – emit. According to the organisation’s research, the average Indian emits half of what the average Canadian does using coal power and eight times less than the average Australian.

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When the emission figures are adjusted for population size, countries like Australia, South Korea, South Africa, and the United States rank among the worst coal power emitters. While Australia has the highest per capita coal emission in the world (the average Australian emits five times the global average), South Korea and the United States emit nearly four times and three times the global average, respectively.

Here are a few significant highlights from Ember analysis:

1 . Australia has the highest coal emissions, per capita, in the world, emitting 5.34 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The average Australian emits five times as much carbon dioxide from coal as the average person globally, and nearly twice as much as the average Chinese person. 

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2. With 3.81 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, South Korea has the second-highest per-capita coal emissions among the G20 countries. The average Korean emits nearly four times as much carbon dioxide produced by coal as the rest of the world.

3. The United States has the fourth-highest per capita coal emissions in the G20 at 3.08 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The average American emits almost thrice as much carbon dioxide from coal as the global average.

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4. China was discovered to be the world’s largest coal power consumer as well as the fifth largest emitter of coal per capita. The country emits 2.71 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, with the average citizen emitting 2.5 times the global average from coal. 

According to the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Roadmap, OECD countries such as Australia, South Korea, the United States, Germany, and Japan have committed to phase out coal power by 2030 in order to stay on a 1.5-degree path. However, the recent report raises concerns about the global coal emissions situation, as these were reportedly found to perform the worst on coal power upon data adjustment for population size.