Abstract |
The inventory serves a number of purposes, foremost of which is fulfilling our international commitments to report under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In addition to satisfying this formal commitment, the inventory data are critical to monitoring and tracking the progress of the United States in meeting commitments under the UNFCCC. The preparation of the greenhouse gas inventory is also part of a broader program of technical and policy support, and contributes to technical, scientific, and policy research aimed at understanding the relative contribution of different emission sources and sinks to overall emissions, the future time path of emissions and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, and the potential cost of limiting emissions from different gases and sources. The inventory program also focuses on improving methodologies, on developing estimates for new source categories, and on finding new and improved activity data, emission factors, and direct measurements that go into the process of estimating the inventory. |