Mapping the World’s Emissions: Who’s Really Responsible?

Global heating will effect all of us. But which nations are most responsible for causing it?

Check out this high-resolution computer model created by NASA.

It shows carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas driving the climate crisis, as you’ve never seen it before.

Some things have changed since 2006 when NASA recorded this data, but the overall picture remains the same: high energy industrial countries in the Global North are, in general, far higher emitters than the largely developing nations of the Global South.

And just imagine how this map might look when those low emitting countries begin to develop high energy lifestyles and economies. How much of the map can we afford to turn red?

Looking at this model two priorities become clear. Firstly, high emitting countries have a massive responsibility to waste no time in slashing their emissions. Secondly, developing nations need a route to a high energy future that doesn’t put them in the red.

Thankfully existing nuclear power technologies, alongside selected renewables, provide a solution to both.