Sources used

The emissions data used for the table come from the Climate Analysis Indicators Tools (CAIT) program developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI). This application combines information taken from various databases, with the emphasis on sources based on scientific studies.

The CAIT database does not provide complete information about emissions related to forests or land use change. When such information was not complete we supplemented it with the information sent by countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat, when this was available.

The breakdown among countries by income level is the one used by the World Bank in the 2010 report on world development on the basis of per capita income thresholds from $975 to $11,905 at 2008 exchange rates.

Guide to reading the table

The first column gives the total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, including forests, for the seventeen largest emitters, with the twenty-seven-member European Union being considered as a single emitter, plus France.

Energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions cover all CO2 emitted during the production and use of energy: the production of heat and electricity, the consumption of energy derived from fossil fuels in industry, buildings and transport, fugitive emissions and all other energy uses. Emissions resulting from international air and maritime transport are included. To obtain the total energy emissions considered in Chapters 3 and 4, add in fugitive methane emissions from coal mines and oil and natural gas installations.