Estimating US fossil fuel CO 2 emissions from measurements of 14 C in atmospheric CO 2

Abstract

Significance The vast majority of the world’s nations have pledged to reduce emissions of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases and to track and report emissions using accounting methods based on economic statistics and emissions factors. Here, we present an independent method of emissions monitoring based directly on atmospheric observations and the strong fossil fuel CO 2 detection capability afforded by precise measurements of 14 CO 2 in air samples obtained largely from NOAA’s air sampling network. The national total we derive for 2010 is larger than from available inventories, including the US EPA, but is within error bounds of the updated Vulcan emission data product. These results suggest that reported emissions can now be subject to independent and objective evaluation using atmospheric 14 CO 2 measurements.