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Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Other Countries
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Human activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions occur globally, in every country of the world. For most countries, carbon dioxide (CO2) from the combustion of fossil fuels for activities such as transportation or electricity generation is the dominant source of emissions. However, in some countries with proportionately large agriculture sectors, such as New Zealand and Nicaragua, other emission sources and sectors are the highest contributors.
Countries that are Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are committed to reporting their national greenhouse
gas inventories to the Secretariat of the convention. Developed countries
report stand-alone inventories on an annual basis, which are then peer-reviewed
by technical experts. These inventories are posted on the UNFCCC
Web site 
.
Developing countries report their national greenhouse gas inventories
on a less frequent basis as part of a broader national report called a ‘national
communication’ .
The UNFCCC secretariat provides an online
greenhouse gas database that
allows users to make greenhouse gas data queries from all countries and download
the results.
Developed and developing countries all use the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines as a basis for their inventories. The
flexibility in the IPCC Guidelines allows countries with different resource
and data constraints to produce comparable inventories. As a result, the
inventories reported to the UNFCCC reflect varied levels of sophistication.
EPA works directly with developing countries, countries with economies
in transition and with international organizations such as the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to
improve the quality of their national greenhouse gas inventories. To learn more visit the Greenhouse Gas Inventories Capacity Building Page.
Other datasets are available that provide comprehensive estimates of emissions from other regions and countries:
- IEA: The International Energy Agency publishes country-by-country estimates
of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion. More
information .
- CDIAC: The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory publishes data on global, regional and national fossil fuel CO2 emissions. More information.
- EPA compiles a database of non-CO2 greenhouse gases by region and by country. This database is a combination of estimates generated by other countries and by EPA. More information.
- WRI: The World Resources Institute has developed a Climate Analysis
Indicators Tool (CAIT), to which users can subscribe and examine international
emissions. CAIT contains many other data sets, including data from the
UNFCCC, EPA and IEA. More information .