Visualizing 60+ Years of Per-Capita CO2 Emissions 😷

What we’re showing

This graphic visualizes per-capita CO2 emissions by region from 1960 to 2022, based on data from Climate Watch (accessed via the World Resources Institute).

North America leads

North America (mostly driven by Canada and the U.S.) is the undisputed leader in terms of CO2 per capita.

There has been a significant downtrend over the past two decades, though, thanks to technological advancements (e.g. clean energy), government policies, and the shift towards a more service-oriented economy.

Another factor could be “carbon leakage”, which is when companies outsource their production (and resulting emissions) to a different region of the world.