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INVENTORY OF U.S. GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND SINKS: 1990-2001
Citation:
Impact/Purpose:
The Environmental Protection Agency prepares the official U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks to comply with existing commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Under decision 3/CP.5 of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, national inventories for UNFCCC Annex I parties should be provided to the UNFCCC Secretariat each year by April 15.
Description:
The inventory report presents estimates by the United States government of U.S. anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and sinks for the years 1990 through 2001. The emission estimates in the tables are presented on both a full molecular mass basis and on a Global Warming Potential (GWP) weighted basis in order to show the relative contribution of each gas to global average radiative forcing. The report also discusses the methods and data used to calculate these emission estimates. In June of 1992, the United States signed, and later ratified in October, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Parties to the Convention, by ratifying, make commitments "to develop, periodically update, publish and make available"(national inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, using comparable methodologies). The United States views the inventory report as an opportunity to fulfill this commitment under the UNFCCC. Overall, this inventory of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (1) provides a basis for the ongoing development of methodologies for estimating sources and sinks of greenhouse gases; (2) provides a common and consistent mechanism through which Parties to the UNFCCC can estimate emissions and compare the relative contribution of individual sources, gases, and nations to climate change; and (3) is a prerequisite for accounting for reductions and evaluating possible mitigation strategies.