Description:
The national greenhouse gas intensity measures the quantity of GHG emissions in relation to the economic output of a country and is independent of the absolute quantity of GHG emitted. Other ways to represent GHG emissions are emissions per capita or in total per country. In both cases the picture changes completely. Countries with high absolute emissions may have relatively low intensities and vice versa, as with growing economic productivity efficiency tends to increase, and economic activities shift from industrial to the service sector. On the other hand, countries with high intensity may well have very low per capita emissions. See pages 22 and 48 for alternative rankings of emitters.