Annual Growth in GDP and CO₂ Emissions

• This interactive line graph and table compare the annual change in GDP with the change in carbon dioxide emissions.
• The data starts from 1961 and can be customized to show specific world regions, countries, and continents. It can also be downloaded.

Positives

• The resource shows the relationship between GDP and CO₂ emissions.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should know how to read a line graph.
• Students should be familiar with the terms gross domestic product and carbon emissions.

Differentiation

• Statistics and math classes could examine and discuss the mathematical relationship between the change in GDP and the change in CO₂ emissions.
• Economics classes could evaluate the data from the United States and discuss how the relationship between GDP and CO₂ emissions might be starting to change.

The resource compares the annual growth rate of GPD and CO₂ emissions at a global level. The method used in measuring the annual growth rate is specific, then for CO₂ emissions, a conversion factor of 3.664 was used to standardize the units. This resource is recommended for teaching.