New CO2 emission map to monitor climate change

WASHINGTON: Scientists have developed a new approach to reliably estimate carbon dioxide ( CO2) emissions from burning fossil fuels, which could help policy makers to reach an agreement on strategies to reduce green house gas emissions.

World leaders face multiple barriers in their efforts to reach agreement on greenhouse gas emission policies.

Without globally consistent, independent emission assessments, climate agreements will remain burdened by errors, self-reporting, and the inability to verify emissions progress, researchers said.

Now, an international research team led by Arizona State University (ASU) scientists has developed a new approach to estimate CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels - one that provides crucial information to policymakers.

Called the "Fossil Fuel Data Assimilation System" or FFDAS, the new system was used to quantify 15 years of CO2 emissions, every hour, for the entire planet - down to the city scale.

Until now, scientists have estimated greenhouse gas emissions at courser scales or used less reliable techniques.

The FFDAS uses information from satellite feeds, national fuel accounts, and a new global database on power plants to create high-resolution planetary maps.

These maps provide a scientific, independent assessment of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions - something policy-makers can use and the public can understand.

"With this system, we are taking a big step towards creating a global monitoring system for greenhouse gases, something that is needed as the world considers how best to meet greenhouse gas reductions," said Kevin Robert Gurney, lead investigator and associate professor in ASU's School of Life Sciences.

"Now we can provide all countries with detailed information about their CO2 emissions and show that independent, scientific monitoring of greenhouse gases is possible," said Gurney.

The research team combined information from space-based "nighttime lights," a new population database, national statistics on fuel use, and a global database on power plants to create a CO2 emissions map broken down by hour, year and region.

"The accuracy of the FFDAS results is confirmed by independent, ground-based data in the US," said Salvi Asefi-Najafabady, lead author of the report and postdoctoral researcher at ASU.

"This makes us confident that the system is working well and can provide usable, policy-salient information," said Asefi-Najafabady.

The research was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.