Even if Germany switched completely to photovoltaics, climate change's trajectory will not change unless India and China also adopt them.

This is a counterfactual about relative emissions. Germany never switched completely to PV, so judge the reasoning against emissions data from around 2007 and the trend since. True: authoritative data (IEA, Global Carbon Project, UNFCCC inventories) show Germany's power-sector emissions are a small share of global emissions (a few percent or less). They must also show that global emissions growth was and is driven mostly by China and India (with other developing economies), so that removing Germany's power emissions without China and India acting would not materially bend the global emissions or warming trajectory. Mostly true: the core point holds, but the evidence shows China and India are not the only decisive emitters (for example, the US or other developing countries matter about as much), so naming only these two overstates their role. Mixed: credible analyses are genuinely split on whether Germany's switch alone would change the trajectory. Mostly false: Germany's switch alone would have a modest but measurable effect on the global trajectory, or adoption by China and India is shown not to be necessary for a change. False: evidence shows Germany switching completely to PV would by itself substantially change the global emissions or warming trajectory.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Key Targets 2025 Global Carbon Project (Global Carbon Budget) · 1 January 2026

   “The average growth in global fossil CO₂ emissions peaked at around 3 % per year during the 2000s, driven by the rapid growth in emissions in China.”

2. E2 Analysis: Global CO2 emissions will reach new high in 2024 despite slower growth - Carbon Brief Carbon Brief · 13 November 2024

   “For this year, China represents 32% of global CO2 emissions. Their emissions in 2024 are projected to increase by a relatively small 0.2% (with an uncertainty range of -1.6% to +2%), driven by a small rise in emissions from coal (0.3%) and a large rise in natural gas emissions (8%).”

3. E3 Analysis: Global CO2 emissions will reach new high in 2024 despite slower growth - Carbon Brief Carbon Brief · 13 November 2024

   “The US represents 13% of global emissions this year – though is responsible for a much larger portion of historical emissions and associated atmospheric accumulation of CO2.”

4. E4 CO2 Emissions – Global Energy Review 2025 – Analysis - IEA International Energy Agency · 19 October 2026

   “CO2 emissions grew in emerging market and developing economies and international aviation and marine bunkers, outweighing reductions from advanced economies led by the European Union, Japan and the United States.”

5. E5 Analysis: Global CO2 emissions will reach new high in 2024 despite slower growth - Carbon Brief Carbon Brief · 13 November 2024

   “For this year, China represents 32% of global CO2 emissions. Their emissions in 2024 are projected to increase by a relatively small 0.2% (with an uncertainty range of -1.6% to +2%), driven by a small rise in emissions from coal (0.3%) and a large rise in natural gas emissions (8%).”

6. E6 Analysis: Global CO2 emissions will reach new high in 2024 despite slower growth - Carbon Brief Carbon Brief · 13 November 2024

   “India represents 8% of global emissions. In 2024, Indian emissions are projected to increase by 4.6% (with a range from 3.0% to 6.1%), with a 4.5% increase in emissions from coal”

7. E7 Analysis: Global CO2 emissions will reach new high in 2024 despite slower growth - Carbon Brief Carbon Brief · 13 November 2024

   “The rest of the world (excluding aviation) represents 38% of global emissions. Emissions are expected to grow by 1.1% in 2024 (ranging from -1.0% to +3.3%), with increases in emissions from coal (0.5%), oil (0.5%), natural gas (2.2%) and cement (2%).”

8. E8 Analysis: Global CO2 emissions will reach new high in 2024 despite slower growth - Carbon Brief Carbon Brief · 13 November 2024

   “The EU represents 7% of global emissions. EU emissions are expected to decrease by 3.8% in 2024, driven by a 15.8% decline in coal emissions, a 1.3% decline in natural gas emissions, and a 3.5% decline in cement emissions.”

9. E9 GHG emissions of all world countries European Commission, Joint Research Centre (EDGAR) · 30 June 2024

   “China, the United States, India, the EU27, Russia and Brazil were the world’s largest GHG emitters in 2023. Together they account for 49.8% of global population, 63.2% of global gross domestic product, 64.2% of global fossil fuel consumption and 62.7% of global GHG emissions.”

10. E10 GHG emissions of all world countries European Commission, Joint Research Centre (EDGAR) · 30 June 2024

    “With only two exceptions, 2009 (global financial crisis) and 2020 (COVID-19), global GHG emissions have grown steadily since the beginning of the 21st century, mainly due to the increase in fossil CO2 emissions by China, India, and other emerging economies.”

11. E11 2022 Global Carbon Project · 11 November 2022

    “China 31%, United States 14%, EU27 8%, India 7%, Russia 5%, and Japan 3%”

12. E12 The Global Carbon Project (GCP) releases the Global Carbon Budget 2025 National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan), reporting Global Carbon Project · 13 November 2025

    “Emissions in China and India are projected to grow much less in 2025 compared to their growth over the past decade (2015-2024), while emissions in the USA and European Union are also projected to grow this year, partly due to weather conditions.”

The evidence supports the core point. Growth in global fossil CO2 emissions since the 2000s was driven mainly by China, India and other emerging economies (E1, E10), and emerging-economy growth has outweighed cuts in advanced economies (E4). The whole EU accounts for only about 7–8% of global emissions (E8, E11), so Germany's power sector, as one part of that, is at most a small share. However, no source gives a Germany-specific figure. The US (13–14%) and the rest of the world taken together (38%) also account for substantial shares of global emissions (E3, E7, E9, E11), and E10 attributes growth to other emerging economies as well as China and India, so naming only China and India somewhat overstates their role.