Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks

Central to any study of climate change is the development of an emissions inventory that identifies and quantifies a country's primary anthropogenic sources and sinks of greenhouse gases. This inventory adheres to both 1.) a comprehensive and detailed methodology for estimating sources and sinks of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, and 2.) a common and consistent mechanism that enables Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to compare the relative contribution of different emission sources and greenhouse gases to climate change.This chapter summarizes the latest information on U.S. anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission trends. To ensure that the U.S. emissions inventory is comparable to those of other UNFCCC Parties, the estimates presented here were calculated using methodologies consistent with those recommended in the Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC/UNEP/OECD/IEA 1997), the IPCC Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC 2000), and the IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (IPCC 2003). The structure of this report is consistent with the UNFCCC guidelines for inventory reporting. For most source categories, the IPCC methodologies were expanded, resulting in a more comprehensive and detailed estimate of emissions.