Five Key Charts to Watch in Global Commodities This Week
A worker loads an aluminum coil onto a truck at the Arconic manufacturing facility in Alcoa, Tennessee.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/BloombergAlcoa Corp. is slated to kick off the commodity world’s earnings season on Wednesday, while climate observers will be keenly watching for any developments as the US’s John Kerry makes a highly-anticipated visit to Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart. The two superpowers have a poor track record on emissions. Here are five key charts to consider as the week gets underway.
The world’s two biggest polluters are meeting for talks on global warming amid ongoing tensions between the US and China. The Asian nation accounted for the largest share of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2021, according to European Commission data, while the US was a distant second at almost 13%. Even so, the US has by far the biggest share of historical, cumulative emissions, having relied on the unfettered burning of coal, oil and gas to fuel its economic growth for decades. Any meaningful progress on tackling harmful greenhouse gases will require the cooperation of both countries, especially ahead of a UN climate conference in the United Arab Emirates starting in November that is already being dogged by a host of concerns.