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.气候变化研究的核心在于构建温室气体排放清单，以识别并量化一国温室气体的主要人为排放源与吸收汇。该排放清单需同时遵循两项准则：其一，采用全面且详尽的人为温室气体源汇估算方法；其二，建立统一一致的机制，以使《联合国气候变化框架公约（United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC）》缔约方能够对比不同排放源与温室气体对气候变化的相对贡献。本章旨在梳理美国人为温室气体排放趋势的最新研究数据。为确保美国排放清单可与其他《联合国气候变化框架公约》缔约方的清单进行横向对比，本章所呈现的估算结果均采用与以下推荐方法一致的核算框架：1996年修订版《政府间气候变化专门委员会（Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC）国家温室气体清单指南》（IPCC/联合国环境规划署（United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP）/经济合作与发展组织（Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD）/国际能源署（International Energy Agency, IEA），1997）、《政府间气候变化专门委员会国家温室气体清单优良实践指南与不确定性管理（2000）》以及《政府间气候变化专门委员会土地利用、土地利用变化与林业优良实践指南（2003）》。本报告的结构符合《联合国气候变化框架公约》的清单报告指南要求。针对多数排放源类别，本研究对政府间气候变化专门委员会的核算方法进行了拓展，从而得到更全面、详尽的排放估算结果。