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 .