Increased transparency in accounting conventions could benefit climate policy

Datasets of emissions from 1750-2020 and spreadsheet of calculations supporting the manuscript: Wedderburn-Bisshop, G. 2025 Increased transparency in accounting conventions could benefit climate policy

Abstract

Greenhouse gas accounting conventions were first devised in the 1990’s to assess and compare emissions. Several assumptions were made when devising these conventions that remain in practice, however recent advances offer potentially more consistent and inclusive accounting of greenhouse gases. We apply these advances, namely: gross accounting of CO2 sources; linking land use emissions with sectors; using Effective Radiative Forcing (ERF) rather than Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) to compare emissions; including both heating and cooling emissions, and including loss of additional sink capacity (LASC). We compare these results with conventional accounting and find that this approach boosts perceived carbon emissions from deforestation, and finds agriculture, the most extensive land user, to be the leading emissions sector and to have caused 60% (32%-87%) of ERF change since 1750. We also find that fossil fuels are responsible for 17% of ERF, a reduced contribution due to masking from cooling co-emissions. We test the validity of this accounting and find it useful for determining sector responsibility for present-day warming and for framing policy responses, while recognising the dangers of assigning value to cooling emissions, due to health impacts and future warming.