Colonial Rule Nearly Doubles UK’s Historical Contribution to Climate Change

New analysis increases the UK’s share of cumulative historical emissions from 3% up to 5.1%. This jumps the UK from eighth to fourth place in the global rankings of countries’ “historical responsibility for climate change”, still behind the US, China, and Russia, but now ahead of India, Brazil and Germany. “Moreover, the UK’s population are the second-highest emitters on a per-capita basis, when accounting for emissions under colonial rule.”