Figure 2

World Map of City Quality of Life and Global Gridded Model of Carbon Footprints. The Global Gridded Model of Carbon Footprints (GGMCF) offers per capita estimates of carbon footprints across 189 countries in a globally consistent and spatially resolved form and incorporates currently available subnational models for China, Japan, the EU, the UK and the US. On the map, the x-axis dimension shows the quality of life of individual cities and the y-axis dimension displays the carbon footprint per capita of each city. Nine variables were used to calculate the dimensions of city quality of life shown on the map. This map includes eight country clusters related to the classifications used in the 2021 World Values Survey and the 2020 World Cultural Map²⁶. The map in this figure shows one dimension of the full spectrum from the integrated sustainability approach taken in this research; this dimension illustrates that city quality of life and climate change indicators make a single whole that combines a variety of synergies and trade-offs. The way countries move from the bottom left to the top right section of the map shows their transition towards the sustainability of urban carbon footprints. GGMCF shows that meaningful impact on national and global emissions is possible through local action at national and city level⁴⁵. As illustrated by this map, for instance, we see that cities located in the most successful countries use the most advanced risk reduction and prevention, preparation, response, and recovery measures, but they also use considerable amounts of resources to ensure their high quality of life and, therefore, their position on the map is not very good in terms of curbing climate change. Note that the average correlation (r = 0.669) of this map’s x and y dimensions confirms the second hypothesis. We generated the map using our RECASTM method and the Windows 10–11 Office 2016–2021 Excel software.