South Africa: Africa's biggest emitter avoids climate leadership

South Africa is Africa's largest economy and the continent's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. But at the just opened climate negotiations, South Africa most likely will try to avoid reducing emissions. South Africa's CO2 emissions per capita are on par with those of the United Kingdom, and more than twice as high as China's emissions by the same measure. The country is presently responsible for about half of Africa's emissions, with 80 per cent of its estimated 400 million metric tonnes of CO2 coming from the energy sector alone.