Blame game: Which countries are the worst global warmers?
We're all contributing to climate change by pumping heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But we're not all contributing equally.
Four countries and the European Union are responsible for 62.24 percent of global emissions, with China and the U.S. holding (un)healthy leads. A huge chunk of the carbon pollution from China and the United States comes from energy, much of that blamed on the burning of coal and other fossil fuels in power plants.
Meanwhile, a country like Brazil, though only responsible for 2.34 percent of the global stake, has agricultural emissions that are higher than the United States. Much of that is due to the conversion of the Amazon to cattle ranches and plantations.
As world leaders gear up for a crucial meeting in December to negotiate a historic agreement to cap greenhouse gas emissions, you can bone up on the biggest offenders with the most at stake. To help, the World Resources Institute has released this handy interactive graphic that shows how much each country is contributing to the problem and what sectors are to blame.
The data was gleaned from WRI's CAIT Climate Data Explorer, using just-released emissions statistics for 2012 and comes amid a flurry of climate news.
There is some for change in the air, after Pope Francis released his long-awaited encyclical on climate change and G7 leaders agreed to decarbonize their economies by the end of the century.