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That's it, the planet's population passed the 8 billion mark in November 2022. At the same time, global warming is becoming more and more present almost everywhere in the world. Faced with this observation, some commentators are betting on a solution through demography: having fewer babies means less greenhouse gases, less pollution and therefore less climate change. But does this demonstration hold up? Is fertility an essential factor in reducing humanity's carbon footprint? ???? For more explanatory videos on global warming: • Climate crisis ???????? Le Monde ✅ To follow and understand the news, subscribe to the YouTube channel of Le Monde (and activate the bell for notifications ????!) __________ Sources: Population projections 2021-2070, Insee, 2021 https://www.insee.fr/fr/outil-interac... Greenhouse gas emissions per capita https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/fi... https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/pe... The end of the one-child policy in China? Ined, 2016 https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubriqu... The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions (scientific publication in English, 2017) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10... Reproduction and the carbon legacy of individuals (scientific publication in English, 2009) https://app.dimensions.ai/details/pub... The influence of population dynamics on carbon dioxide emissions: does age structure matter? (scientific publication in English, 2011) https://read.dukeupress.edu/demograph... Global demographic trends and future carbon emissions (scientific publication in English, 2010) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... __________ For more information: “Should we have fewer children to save the planet?” by Emmanuel Pont Book: https://www.emmanuelpont.fr/ Podcast: https://www.lemonde.fr/podcasts/artic... 8 billion humans: are there too many of us on Earth? The Conversation, 2022 https://theconversation.com/8-milliar... Are there too many of us on Earth? Mnhn, 2020 https://shows.acast.com/pour-que-natu... One of the authors of the 2017 article explains why it is still acceptable to have children (article and podcast in English) https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22...