The Illusion of Climate Progress

Challenging the narrative: Did emissions actually fall, or did rich nations simply export them abroad? Explore decoupling, greenwashing, and outsourced carbon footprints.

Data: Our World in Data CO₂ Dataset
Net Exporter (Produces)    Net Importer (Consumes)
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drag to explore time · watch the flows shift

🌍 Carbon Outsourcing Flows

Outsourced CO₂ per capita: Blue consumed more than they produced. Red produced for others.

📉 Decoupling vs Outsourcing

Did they decouple? (X = CO₂ Intensity change since 2007) vs Did they outsource? (Y = Outsourced CO₂/capita)

⚖️ Accountability Score

Ranked by climate fairness (Higher = worse impact vs fair share)

🚨 Hidden Emissions Index (Greenwashing Proxy)

Countries where domestic emissions fell >5% since 2007, but consumption emissions ROSE or stayed flat.

"Fake Decoupling"

A pure reduction in domestic territorial emissions is often celebrated as "decoupling". However, if consumption emissions are rising at the same time, the country hasn't actually lowered its footprint—it has simply offshored its heavy industry to developing nations while continuing to consume the resulting goods.