The climate doesn't care about per capita figures and historical responsibility. Besides which, emissions have grown so much since 2000 that historical is kind of moot. Per capita is kind of silly too, all the people in the country I live in could reduce their emissions and we'd still have high per capita because such a large amount of it goes to industry which exports, funnily enough, primarily to China.
We should focus on reducing emissions in every place and way possible. Carbon sinks are temporary, and suffer from the problem that they may end up releasing the carbon again in the future. We can't really rely on them for real accounting against emissions.
I'm not sure why you've brought ocean fishing into it. But having lots of aquaculture doesn't excuse other behaviours by China or any other fishing nation.
Ignoring historical and per-capita emissions isn't "pragmatic," it's blame-shifting.
You're right to bring up "exported emissions," but you have the direction backward. The primary "carbon transfer" is from China, acting as the world's factory to meet consumer demand in the West. You can't outsource your carbon footprint and then blame the manufacturer.
If we're truly going to discard fairness for "maximum efficiency" in emissions reduction, then we should target one of the biggest and easiest sources: diet.
Data: Producing 1 kg of beef emits ~60-100 kg of CO₂e. Producing 1 kg of pork emits only ~7-12 kg of CO₂e.
Proposal: A global ban on beef and dairy, switching to pork and poultry. The emissions saved by this simple consumer choice would surpass the total efforts of many nations.
This proposal sounds absurd, right? It infringes on culture and personal choice. And that is precisely the point: any climate solution that ignores fairness, responsibility, and context is, in itself, absurd.
We should focus on reducing emissions in every place and way possible. Carbon sinks are temporary, and suffer from the problem that they may end up releasing the carbon again in the future. We can't really rely on them for real accounting against emissions.
I'm not sure why you've brought ocean fishing into it. But having lots of aquaculture doesn't excuse other behaviours by China or any other fishing nation.