If it’s per capita emissions that matter, Australia is playing its part

Thursday 19 February 2026

On Wednesday, I wrote an article explaining how both China and India—the world’s largest and third-largest carbon emitters (combined share of 40.1% of global emissions in 2024)—planned to aggressively expand their coal production and generation.

China currently produces around 10 times more coal than Australia, and India over two times more:

Both nations also import coal, including from Australia.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.