Carbon emissions are the main driver of climate change, increasing the planet’s temperature and fuelling many negative effects including ocean acidification, rising sea levels, more frequent and intense storms, mass species extinctions, food scarcity and economic inequality. The chart below shows the absolute (as opposed to percentage) change in CO2 emissions from year-on-year for every country in the world since 1958, when record keeping began at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.

The majority of greenhouse gases humans emit are carbon dioxide, produced by burning fossil fuels like oil and coal for energy and other processes such as making cement. Other major greenhouse gases include methane, nitrous oxide and various synthetic chemicals like hydrofluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride.

Experts estimate that natural “sinks” such as plants, soil and the ocean absorb about half of the carbon dioxide we release through fossil fuel burning, but because we’re adding so much more than is absorbed each year, atmospheric levels are steadily rising. A graph of CO2 levels at Mauna Loa shows a series of ups and downs within the longer-term upward trend, caused by seasonal cycles in plant growth. In the northern hemisphere summer, plants draw in CO2 to power their growth, lowering carbon dioxide levels temporarily, before they slow down and stop growing during the winter, pushing carbon dioxide levels back up again.

In addition to the fossil-fuels used for energy production, other significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions include agriculture and land-use change, waste management and combustion of solid waste, and industrial processes like manufacturing, shipping and aviation. Use the interactive map to explore national and global CO2 emissions over time, or check out this page for detailed country-level information.