Europe Envy

Sustainability advocates in the US suffer from a bad case of Europe-envy. We are constantly hearing about how great things are for the environment across the pond. Denmark's bike culture, France's amazing train system, Switzerland's zero-waste policies, and Germany's groundbreaking renewable energy incentives.

But we are kidding ourselves if we think Europe has it figured out. They may have picture-worthy recycling bins and green-leaf logos galore but, on the whole, their economies are structured the same as ours. First, they rely on an extreme trade imbalance which causes most of their emissions to be emitted outside of the continent - in the places where resources are extracted and processed into goods. Second, their "environmental" policies do not communicate any intent to rectify this balance. Third, their embedded-emissions footprint is still massive.

Map Legend:
yellow = unsustainable trade-embodied emissions
red = super unsustainable trade-embodied emissions

Notes:

• Trade-embodied emissions data: https://www.icos-cp.eu/science-and-impact/global-carbon-budget/2021

• Map sketch inspired by: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-embedded-in-global-trade