Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: an overview of planned improvements to the methodologies and activity data used to develop the carbon estimates in the Land Use, Land-use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) sector

Abstract:

The Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks provides a complete assessment of GHG emissions and removals for submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The sectors covered in the inventory include Energy; Industrial Processes and Product Use; Agriculture; Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF); and Waste. The LULUCF sector currently represents a net carbon sink of 885.5 MMT CO₂ Equivalent for 2013, but this estimate is expected to be refined over time as a number of existing and planned improvements to the methodologies and activity data used to develop the LULUCF estimates are implemented in the U.S. GHG Inventory. This presentation provides an overview of these planned improvements including (1) a new approach for reconciling the land survey data sets used to represent the U.S. land base, (2) a modification of the forest carbon estimation methods, (3) incorporation of new NRCS data from the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP), and (4) inclusion of new guidance based on the recently released IPCC Wetlands Supplement.