Climate change is one of the most significant challenges facing the world today. Rising global temperatures and increasing greenhouse gas emissions are altering environmental systems and creating new risks for communities worldwide.
This visual story examines three key aspects of the climate crisis: the rise in global temperatures, the growth of carbon dioxide emissions, and the unequal vulnerability of countries to climate change impacts.
This chart shows a clear long-term warming trend, especially from the late 20th century onwards. This warming forms the background for many climate-related environmental and health risks.
This chart shows the long-term rise in global carbon dioxide emissions. These emissions are a major driver of global warming and help explain why climate-related risks are increasing.
Countries with higher vulnerability scores are more exposed or less able to adapt to climate change impacts. This shows that climate change is not only an environmental issue, but also a global inequality issue.
The evidence presented across these visualisations highlights a clear climate trend. Global temperatures have increased significantly over time, while carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise. At the same time, the impacts of climate change are not experienced equally, with many developing nations facing far greater vulnerability. Understanding these patterns is essential for informing future climate action and adaptation strategies.
ChatGPT was used to assist with brainstorming the story idea, debugging R Markdown code, and improving the structure and wording of explanatory text. All final data choices, visualisation decisions, and submitted content were reviewed by the author.
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. (2026). GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP v4). https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2026). Global temperature. https://science.nasa.gov/earth/explore/earth-indicators/global-temperature/
Our World in Data. (2026). CO₂ and greenhouse gas emissions. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions
University of Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative. (2023). ND-GAIN Country Index: Vulnerability rankings. https://gain-new.crc.nd.edu/ranking/vulnerability
Caminade, C., McIntyre, K. M., & Jones, A. E. (2019). Impact of recent and future climate change on vector-borne diseases. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1436(1), 157–173. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6378404/