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Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

chart showing break-down of greenhouse gas emissions by sector

The Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Núñez, Statutes of 2006, Chapter 488) [PDF file], requires that the California Air Resources Board (ARB) determine the statewide 1990 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions level as a statewide aggregate emissions limit to be achieved by 2020. Under separate statutory authority, on January 1, 2007, ARB received responsibility for maintaining the Statewide GHG emissions inventory from the California Energy Commission.

Prior to that, Senate Bill 1771 (Sher, Chapter 1018, Statutes of 2000) required that the California Energy Commission update California's inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in January 2002 and every five years there after. The inventory is used to develop policies affecting emissions of greenhouse gases and is updated more frequently than required by legislation. The link(s) below will take you to the various editions of earlier reports documenting California's greenhouse gas emissions.




Air Resources Board GHG Inventory Work

ARB has undertaken an extensive inventory documentation and refinement exercise to develop a draft updated statewide GHG emissions inventory and corresponding documentation. This statewide GHG inventory is an aggregate, "top-down" inventory for the period 1990-2004. Updated GHG emissions inventory estimates will be linked to from this webpage as improved and more current data become available.

The Board approved a 2020 emissions limit of 427 million metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent in December 2007. The 2020 emissions limit is equivalent to the 1990 emissions level.

For more information, please go to: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/inventory/inventory.htm.

The latest ARB-approved GHG Emissions Inventory can be found at: www.arb.ca.gov/cc/inventory/data/data.htm.



California Energy Commission GHG Inventory Work

1990-2004 Inventory

Revisions to the 1990 to 2004 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report - Letter from Rosella Shapiro, California Energy Commission, to the Air Resources Board. Posted: February 2, 2007. (PDF file, 7 pages, 56 kilobytes)

Inventory of California Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990 to 2004 - FINAL STAFF REPORT, posted: December 22, 2006. (Acrobat PDF, 132 pages, 682 kilobytes)

The figures in the report are available below as Acrobat PDF files, and table 6 is available as a Microsoft Excel file.

  • Figure 1 - California's Gross GHG Emissions Trends
  • Figure 2 - California GHG Composition by Type of Gas in 2004 (Includes electricity imports and excludes international bunker fuels)
  • Figure 3 - Sources of California's 2004 GHG Emissions (By End-Use Sector) (Includes electricity imports and excludes international bunker fuels)
  • Figure 4 -California's Gross GHG Emissions Trends (Includes electricity imports and excludes international bunker fuels)
  • Figure 5 - CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion
  • Figure 6 - CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion per Capita
  • Figure 7 - CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion per GSP Unit
  • Figure 8 - CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuels per Capita (2001)
  • Figure 9 - CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuels per Unit of GSP (2001)
  • Figure 10 - California GHG Emissions in a World-Scale Context (2002 data)
  • Figure 11 - 2001 Emissions Intensities for California, Texas and Top 30 GHG Emitting Countries (PDF file)

  • Table 6 - California Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sink Summary: 1990 to 2004 (MMTCO2Eq.)


Inventory of California Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-1999 & 1999-2002

Inventory of California Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990 to 2002 Update
Publication Numbers: CEC-600-2005-025
Publication Date: June 2005

This staff paper updates California's statewide inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to support this positive development. It also extends the inventory period from 1999 to 2002, and uses 2002 data, the most recent available from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Information Administration (EIA). For the first time ever, this inventory reports GHG emissions from out-of-state electricity along with in-state GHG emissions and projects future emissions trends.

Download Staff Paper: 1990 to 2002 Update
(Publication # CEC-600-2005-025, Adobe Acrobat PDF file, 85 pages, 1.8 megabytes)


Inventory of California Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-1999
Publication Numbers: 600-02-001F & 600-02-001F-ES
Publication Date: November 2002

DOWNLOAD Complete Report
Inventory of California Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-1999
(Publication # 600-02-001F, Adobe Acrobat PDF file, 218 pages, 1.2 megabytes)


DOWNLOAD Executive Summary
(Publication # 600-02-001F-ES, Adobe Acrobat PDF file, 17 pages, 104 kilobytes)


1997 Global Climate Change Report

1997 Global Climate Change Report: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Strategies for California
Publication Numbers: P500-98-001, Volumes 1, 2 & 3
Publication Date: January 1999

Go to report page on Energy Commission's website



Other Documents

Research Roadmap for Greenhouse Gas Inventory Methods, Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research Program final project report. Posted: July 5, 2005. (Acrobat PDF, 137 pages, 1.6 megabytes)