Emissions Sources

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Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector

Global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to different sectors of the economy. This provides a picture of the varying contributions of different types of economic activity to global warming, and helps in understanding the changes required to mitigate climate change.

Data

Emissions from combustion of fuels: IEA¹ .

Other emissions: Climate Watch².

Manmade greenhouse gas emissions can be divided into those that arise from the combustion of fuels to produce energy, and those generated by other processes. Around two thirds of greenhouse gas emissions arise from the combustion of fuels ² .

Energy may be produced at the point of consumption, or by a generator for consumption by others. Thus emissions arising from energy production may categorised according to where they are emitted, or where the resulting energy is consumed. If emissions are attributed at the point of production, then electricity generators contribute about 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions ³ . If these emissions are attributed to the final consumer then 24% of total emissions arise from manufacturing and construction, 17% from transportation, 11% from domestic consumers, and 7% from commercial consumers. Around 4% of emissions arise from the energy consumed by the energy and fuel industry itself ¹ .

The remaining third of emissions arise from processes other than energy production. 12% of total emissions arise from agriculture, 7% from land use change and forestry, 6% from industrial processes, and 3% from waste² . Around 6% of emissions are fugitive emissions, which are waste gases released by the extraction of fossil fuels.

A version of this content was contributed to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas) on 6 March 2020.

1. IEA, CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion 2018: Highlights (Paris: International Energy Agency, 2018) p.101 [↩] [↩]
2. Climate Watch, ‘Climate Watch: Historical GHG Emissions, Sectors’ (Climate Watch, 2020) https://www.climatewatchdata.org/ghg-emissions?breakBy=sector&chartType=area§ors=846%2C849%2C845%2C848%2C847%2C853%2C850%2C855%2C854%2C852%2C851 (accessed 5 March 2020) [↩] [↩] [↩]
3. IEA, CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion 2018: Highlights (Paris: International Energy Agency, 2018) p.98 [↩]