As the century draws to its close, the dark reaches of the world have shifted from the West to the East. An ambitious analysis of global sulfur emissions estimates spanning two centuries shows that the United States, Europe and the former Soviet Union have stabilized their emissions over the past 20 years, while mainland China s sulfur emissions have soared.
China now leads the world in the dubious distinction of most sulfur emissions produced in a country.
Coal consumption overwhelmingly accounted for the highest contributions to sulfur emissions worldwide. Other activities taken into account in the analysis were metal smelting and oil consumption. He published the analysis in the 1999 fall issue of Atmospheric Environment. Mont. The Department of Energy funded part of the research. And it is relatively easy to get because most countries have kept track of their consumption.