I do really care for the environment. My wife calls me a tree hugger lol
I have degrees in Geology and even focused on paleoclimate and fossil fuel location. I created some beautiful cross sectional maps haha.
So I'm not one of those flat Earthers who think climate change isn't happening or is not people's fault.
I just know that, even by your numbers, the USA is NOT in control of 85% to 87% of all annual emissions.
Practically speaking, I don't see how we can get this problem under control QUICK in order to give humanity some breathing room to transition over without using aerosols. We also have to develop nuclear for baseload power, we can't have a fully solar or wind powered grid unless there is massive development in battery energy storage on a huge scale.
China didn't NEED build coal plants for the factories. They CHOSE to. They could power those factories with solar or wind can they not? Or even natural gas. But they chose the worst energy available.
And the reason why America has contributed 25% of emissions historically is because we industrialized at a time when if you weren't burning wood for energy then you were burning coal.
For a country TODAY to build new coal plants is wildly irresponsible when there are so many alternatives. I would say the same if the USA was industrializing today instead of 150 years ago.
Unfortunately I do see from some people on the left say it's ok for third world countries to get a several decades break to allow major pollution from them because "the West did too," or, "they need to catch up." Incredibly stupid thought process. As if all the technological advancements that have been achieved over the last 100 years are not available to them!
If China built 250 coal plants in 1920 I would understand. In 2025? Ridiculous. People who excuse this are not actually interested in solving this issue.