Gifts for an environmental scientist or climate researcher
Cumulative emissions, forest cover, solar, wind and renewables — every country drawn to scale, sourced, from £2.99. Charts that hold up to someone who works with this data professionally.
See the picks The personalised year posterGifts → For climate & environment
Buying for someone in climate science is risky, because they will know immediately if the numbers are wrong or the framing is sloppy. Most ‘eco’ gifts fail this test — they are decorative rather than accurate.
These are drawn from World Bank, FAO and energy datasets with the source and year on the print. The cumulative emissions chart in particular is one that people in the field tend to appreciate, because it shows historical responsibility rather than current output.
How to choose
Cumulative versus annual emissions is the important distinction. Annual emissions make China the story. Cumulative emissions since 1750 make the US and Europe the story. Which one you buy says something, and anyone in the field will notice which you chose.
For someone in energy rather than climate, the generation charts — solar, wind, renewables, total electricity — are more useful, because they show the transition actually happening rather than the problem.
Forest area is the quiet one that suits conservation and ecology people better than the emissions charts.
The picks
Prices shown are for the printed matte poster. Most designs are also sold as a printable download at £3.99 and a phone wallpaper pack at £2.99.
The World’s Biggest Cumulative Co₂ Emitters
Emissions since 1750 — the chart that reframes who is responsible.
£12.99 printed
The World’s Biggest Co₂ Emitters
Annual output: China’s 12.2 billion tonnes of a 37.0 billion total.
£12.99 printed
The World’s Biggest Forests 2023
Russia’s 8.2 million km², a fifth of the world’s forest.
£12.99 printed
The Biggest Solar Electricity Generators
Who is actually generating solar power at scale.
£12.99 printed
The Biggest Wind Electricity Generators
1,970 terawatt-hours of wind, by country.
£12.99 printed
The Biggest Renewable Electricity Generators
All renewables together — 2,900 TWh worldwide.
£12.99 printed
The World’s Biggest Energy Consumers
The 130,400 TWh of primary energy the world gets through.
£12.99 printed
The World’s Biggest Electricity Generators
Total electricity generation — the world runs on three grids.
£12.99 printed
Printed, printable or wallpaper?
Every design here comes in three forms. The printed matte poster is made to order on 189 gsm paper and posted unframed. The printable download is £3.99, arrives instantly, and comes in four frame ratios with a printing guide — the right call if you have left it late or want to print large locally. The phone wallpaper pack is £2.99 for three designs, which makes it the only thing on this site that works as a genuine sub-£5 Secret Santa.
Questions
Is the cumulative emissions chart based on production or consumption?
It is territorial production emissions since 1750, which is the standard basis for historical responsibility comparisons. The source and year are printed on the poster.
Are these printed sustainably?
Posters are made to order rather than held in stock, so nothing is printed that is not sold, and they ship from the production facility nearest the delivery address. The printable download avoids shipping altogether.
Do the posters come framed?
No. They ship rolled and unframed, which keeps postage sensible and lets the recipient match their own frames. All sizes are standard, so shop-bought frames fit.
Where does the data come from?
Each poster names its source and year on the print itself — World Bank, UN, IMF, SIPRI or Our World in Data, depending on the dataset. Nothing here is invented or rounded for effect.
What size should I get?
These are dense graphics with a lot of small countries on them. If it is going to be the main thing on a wall, go large — at the smallest sizes the smaller countries get tight.
Not sure which framing they would prefer?
If in doubt, the printable download is £3.99 — cheap enough to get two and let them pick which one goes on the wall.
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