The industrial ledger
The carbon in the atmosphere has a history. It starts around the 1750s with coal in Britain, spreads through Europe and North America, and powers two centuries of factories, railways and empires. The wealth that carbon built is still visible: it is the gap between the countries that industrialized early and everyone else.
CO2 stays in the atmosphere for centuries. So the warming Lagos feels today was substantially emitted before Nigerian independence. That is not rhetoric. It is chemistry plus history.
The ledger today
China is now the largest yearly emitter, and that matters for the future. But warming is driven by the cumulative total, and on that ledger the United States and Europe still account for roughly half of everything ever emitted. Africa's share is around 3 percent. Nigeria's is under 1.
Per person, the gap is wider still. Check both charts on Our World in Data: emissions per year and cumulative emissions. Notice how differently the same crisis looks depending on which one a speaker chooses to show you. CY-102 taught you why that choice is never innocent.
Why history matters
The oldest principle in environmental law is that the polluter pays. Applied honestly to climate, it means responsibility follows the cumulative ledger, not this year's headlines.
This is why the justice framing is not anti-development or anti-anyone. It is an accounting argument. Those who filled the atmosphere owe those who did not. The rest of this course is about what that debt looks like and how Nigeria collects it.
Hold on to these
- CO2 persists for centuries, so today's warming is mostly yesterday's emissions.
- The US and Europe hold roughly half of cumulative emissions. Nigeria holds under 1 percent.
- Polluter pays is an accounting principle, and the cumulative ledger is the account.
Check yourself
No grades here. If you can answer these out loud, you own the lesson.
- 1.Why does cumulative CO2 matter more than this year's emissions for today's warming?
- 2.Someone says 'China emits the most, blame them.' What is accurate and what is missing in that claim?
- 3.Explain 'polluter pays' in one sentence a market trader would nod at.