Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are a key driver of global warming. But not all countries contribute equally to the crisis—and not all emissions tell the same story. Using public data from Our World in Data, this project explores which countries emit the most CO₂, how their emissions have changed over time, and how per capita emissions reveal deeper disparities.

This report uses three Tableau visualizations—a historical line chart, a 2022 per capita bar chart, and a global emissions map—to help readers explore global climate responsibility through data.

Where the Data Comes From

The dataset is maintained by Our World in Data and is sourced from the Global Carbon Project. It includes annual country-level emissions from fossil fuels and cement production dating back to 1750. For this report, I focused on the top 10 CO₂ emitting countries in 2022: China, the United States, India, Russia, Japan, Iran, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and South Korea.

Using Excel, I filtered and cleaned the data to focus on four key fields: country, year, co2, and co2_per_capita. Visualizations were created in Tableau, allowing for quick comparisons over time, geography, and per person.

Long-Term Emissions Trends: 1960–2022

The line chart shows how total annual CO₂ emissions have evolved across the top 10 emitting countries from 1960 to 2022. A few major insights jump out:

• China’s surge is the most visually striking. From the early 2000s, China’s emissions have skyrocketed, surpassing the U.S. around 2006. As of 2022, China emits over 11,000 million tonnes of CO₂ annually—more than double the U.S.
• The United States, once the global leader, has seen a slow but steady decline in emissions since the mid-2000s. Still, its historical responsibility remains immense.
• India and Russia follow different paths. India’s emissions are rising sharply, while Russia’s have fluctuated, especially following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
• Other countries like Japan and Germany show relatively stable or slightly declining trends, suggesting progress toward emissions control.

Per Capita CO₂ Emissions in 2022

Total emissions alone don’t tell the full story. When we look at per capita emissions, the picture shifts dramatically:

• Saudi Arabia leads the top 10 with 22.48 tonnes of CO₂ per person—nearly three times that of China, and over ten times India’s.
• The United States ranks second per capita, with 14.87 tonnes per person. This underscores the U.S.’s ongoing high-carbon lifestyle, despite declining overall emissions.
• Countries like India and Indonesia have large populations and low per capita emissions (1.99 and 2.64 respectively), highlighting their relatively modest individual carbon footprints.

This disparity between total and per capita emissions raises important ethical and policy questions: Who should bear the most responsibility for cutting emissions? Who has already “used up” more than their fair share of the global carbon budget.

The Global Emissions Map

This choropleth map provides a geographical snapshot of emissions in 2022. Deep orange shades represent high emitters—China, the United States, India, and Russia. Most African countries appear in pale yellow, reflecting very low emissions, despite being disproportionately affected by climate change.

The map also exposes gaps in global development: nations with little CO₂ output often lack access to clean energy infrastructure. A just climate transition must account for these imbalances.

Reflection: What’s Missing?

While this project sheds light on carbon inequality, it still leaves out several key dimensions. For example:

• Economic context: Emissions per GDP would show efficiency.
• Sector-specific data: Breaking down emissions by industry, transport, and agriculture could highlight where change is most needed.
• Historical responsibility: Cumulative emissions since the Industrial Revolution reveal a very different ranking—one dominated by the Global North.

Design-wise, Tableau was helpful in rapidly building interactive views, but it was limited in expressing nuance and annotations directly on charts. For a public-facing platform, I would further optimize the color palette and add callouts to key data points.

Where This Could Go

In future iterations, I would:

• Create a dashboard to let users toggle between total, per capita, and per GDP emissions.
• Incorporate global climate targets (e.g., Paris Agreement) to track who’s meeting them.
• Include stories of mitigation efforts and renewable energy growth.

Final Thought

Climate change is not just a science issue—it’s a justice issue. By looking at who emits, how much, and why, we can better understand the unequal responsibilities and capacities that define our global climate challenge.