The main issue at the Copenhagen climate summit from December 7-18 is how to further reduce greenhouse gases. This map shows the emission of greenhouse gases (converted to carbon dioxide, the so-called CO2 equivalent) per continent.

Emissions per country are listed separately. A colour scale shows the importance of a country's emissions: for instance, China, the country with the highest emissions, is dark blue; the Netherlands, 30th on the list of countries, is light blue.

There are two ways to look at emissions: per country or per capita. So even if China is the world's single largest polluter, the average Chinese only produces 6 tons of carbon dioxide a year. That puts China in 72nd place. (Click at the bottom of the map to see the differences between countries in total emissions and per capita emissions.)

The map also provides information about the rise or decline of emissions since 1990. This year the Kyoto protocol is used as the hallmark for further reduction of emissions. For instance, emissions in the Netherlands are up 4 percent between 1990 and 2005. Based on the Kyoto protocol the Netherlands are required to bring down emissions by 6 percent as compared to 1990. That is only possible if the Netherlands purchase emission rights from other, less polluting countries.