Carbon emissions: visualization of the "footprint" of countries, per capita and total

This infographic shows carbon dioxide emission, one unrelenting contributor to climate change. Pictured as two-footprints, one per nation and the other per capita, it puts total carbon dioxide emissions into these two comparative pespectives.

The biggest emiters are clear. And all them, except maybe for Canada and South Africa, relatively "dilute" on the per capita perspective. It shows there’s plenty of room also for individual citizens of smaller countries to reduce their carbon footprints. As well as the multiplicative effects of our growing population, how it connects with the big picture.

The biggest emitters - per country & per capita - and therefore "moral" leaders of decarbonization, each one in their regions, are:

• South Africa & Seychelles, Africa

• China & Singapore, Asia

• Iran & Qatar, Middle East

• Trinidad Tobago & US Virgin Islands, Caribbean

• Guatemala & Panama, Central America

• Russia & Gibraltar, Europe

• United States & Canada, North America

• Australia & Australia, Oceania

• Brazil & Venezuela, South America

The original infographic - with footprints design - was apparently prepared by Stanford Kay Art Studio in 2011 and based on 2007 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Click at the image below to download the pdf version available at the website of ISB Institute for Systems Biology, Baliga LAB, a nonprofit scientific research organization located in Seattle, with extra reference to "Miller McCune".

It is worth spending some more time analising the details of this infographic. Some situations are at least curious. For examploe, how similar the European countries - maybe the whole World - appear in the "per capita" view. In spite of possible explanations, the datasource was unique.