Energy-related CO₂ emission accounts and datasets for 40 emerging economies in 2010–2019

Abstract

Since 2000, CO2 emissions from emerging economies have outstripped those of developed economies. To limit global warming to under 1.5 ∘C by 2100, over 100 emerging economies have proposed net-zero carbon targets. Yet the supportive data are lacking – no inventory of CO2 emission outlines detailed sources by sector or distribution at the subnational level for these economies. Here, we redress the balance by establishing a dataset for an energy-related CO2 emission inventory that covers 47 sectors and eight energy types in 40 emerging economies (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7309360, Cui et al., 2021). Their emissions, growing rapidly by 3.0 % yr−1, reached 7.5 Gt in 2019 and were sourced primarily in coal and oil (34.6 % and 28.1 %, respectively) and consumed by the power and transportation sectors. Meanwhile, among African countries in this group, biomass combustion was responsible for 34.7 %–96.2 % of emissions. Our dataset fills a data gap by providing a detailed, robust emission accounting baseline for emerging economies – an advance that will support emission reduction policymaking at global, national, and subnational levels.