Per person, European countries have contributed disproportionately to emissions. Progress in cleaning their economies is only now bringing annual emissions close to the global average.
Prof Piers Forster, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds, said: "These leaders wouldn't like it if the top 1% of their wealthiest citizens didn't pay their taxes, so the argument is fallacious and simply buck-passing."
He added that future warming is driven by future emissions, so every tonne of carbon dioxide avoided improves temperature and heatwave outcomes for generations.
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The three most populous countries – the US, China, and India – were the only ones responsible for more than 5% of carbon emissions from fossil fuels in 2024.
But the remaining 194 countries together account for just under half of humanity's yearly emissions, even though each can claim to be less than 5% of the problem.
Despite this, the argument has been used to justify delaying action by some of the biggest polluters. It has also found a home with nationalist-populist parties across Europe.
Far-right leaders and energy spokespeople in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy have all used it to call for weakening climate policy in the last two years.
Analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) found 200 examples of such claims in national newspapers of 27 countries responsible for less than 2% of global CO2 emissions last year.
One example is a March 2025 editorial in the British newspaper the Times, which stated: "Climate change is clearly a problem, yet Britain, which contributes around 1% of global emissions, can do little to stop it."
