Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions

• This resource includes an interactive map, graph, and table that show the total greenhouse gas emission for countries throughout the world, starting from 1965.
• Greenhouse gas emissions – from carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and F-gases – are summed up and measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents.

Positives

• The interactive provides three different ways for students to explore data (chart, map, table).
• The data can be customized to view different countries and time periods.

Additional Prerequisites

• Learners need to be familiar with the concept of gas emissions.
• The dataset and images are available to download.

Differentiation

• This resource can be used as a practical application of the uses of line graphs learned in Mathematics.

• Students can easily compare emissions from their home country to other countries around the world.
• In geography or social studies classes, students can explore characteristics of high-emission and low-emission countries and seek to identify trends.
• Teachers can ask students to identify which countries they believe are most responsible for climate change based on the emissions data. This can open a conversation about justice and moral responsibility.

This resource outlines total Global CO₂ emissions aggregated from selected countries. Ideally, Global warming potentials calculated within a period of 100 years were taken into account to get the sum of CO₂ equivalent expressed in tonnes. This resource is recommended for teaching.