Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Conflict Areas: Application to Palestine

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) in conflict areas, emphasising Palestine. This estimation faces several difficulties, particularly in data collection. The paper first presents the geopolitical context of Palestine and its consequences for the analysis of GHGEs. Then, it presents the estimation of the GHGEs related to energy, which constitutes the major contributor to GHGEs in Palestine. The emissions were estimated according to Tier 1 in the 2006 IPCC guidelines. For the first time in Palestine, (i) the International Energy Agency methodology for calculating emission factors from electricity consumption is used to estimate the emission factors of GHG at the final point of consumption, and (ii) the scope 2 emissions from imported electricity are accounted for in the total emissions. The GHGEs from the Palestinian electricity generation (excluding imported electricity) were 446,471 tons of CO2eq in 2019, representing 11% of the total emissions from the energy sector. The total GHGEs from electricity final consumption (including imported electricity) in all sectors were 3,929,829 tons of CO2eq. More than 60% (2,316,465 tons of CO2eq) of these emissions were attributed to the consumption of electricity by the households. Emissions from fuel consumption in 2019 were about 3,912,566 tons of CO2eq. Transport was found to be the main emitter of GHGs, with more than half of the total emissions (2,207,834 tons of CO2eq). Considering imported electricity in estimating the total GHGEs from the energy sector doubled the emissions. It increased the share of household emissions in the total GHGEs from the energy sector to become the most significant contributor to the total emissions.