Emissions Notes


GHG Emissions: Summed carbon equivalencies of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from energy use, methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).

Year 2000 Concentration of GHGs Emitted from 1950-2000: [source: CAIT] The concentration index assesses each country's share of greenhouse gases that are currently in the atmosphere. This indicator differs from cumulative emissions in that it is backward-discounting -- the decay of gases in the atmosphere due to absorption in terrestrial and oceanic sinks is taken into account. For more information on the methodology behind this index please refer to the framework paper found on the CAIT website.

Contributions to Global Temperature Increase from 1950-2000 [CAIT]: This indicator, derived from what is known as the Brazilian Proposal of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol negotiations, considers the effects of historical emissions on the present global average temperature increase (~0.6 deg. C). Due to the lag between emissions and resulting temperature increases, this index weighs past emissions more significantly than emissions from recent years. Again, please refer to the CAIT framework paper for information on the calculation of this value.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Units are tonnes of CO₂.

Carbon Dioxide Intensity: the term "intensity" (as in carbon intensity, or energy intensity) is used to capture the notion of how much pollution is emitted, or energy spent, for each dollar of a nation's gross domestic product (GDP). Also, the GDP is corrected using the purchasing power parity (PPP) for each nation, a standardized international dollar price weight which is applied to the quantities of final goods and services produced in a given economy. The data derived from the PPP method provide the best available starting point for comparisons of economic strength and well-being between countries. [CIA]