In the visualizations above we focused on each country or region’s total cumulative emissions (1) in absolute terms; and (2) at a single point in time: as of 2017.

In the chart we see the change in the share of global cumulative emissions by region over time – from 1751 through to 2017. 

Up until 1950, more than half of historical CO2 emissions were emitted by Europe. The vast majority of European emissions back then were emitted by the United Kingdom; as the data shows, until 1882 more than half of the world’s cumulative emissions came from the UK alone. 

Over the century which followed, industrialization in the USA rapidly increased its contribution.

It’s only over the past 50 years that growth in South America, Asia and Africa have increased these regions’ share of total contribution.