International Non-CO2 Mitigation

Non-carbon dioxide (CO₂) greenhouse gases, such as methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated greenhouse gases, are significant contributors to climate change. In some cases, reducing non-CO₂ emissions can have a more rapid effect on the climate and be more cost-effective than reducing CO₂ emissions. To ensure that economists are able to incorporate non-CO₂ mitigation technologies within their economic models, EPA has analyzed the costs of a wide range of mitigation technologies and incorporated them into an economic tool called a marginal abatement cost (MAC) curve which summarizes the cost and emissions reductions of a wide range of technologies.

The reports below summarize the costs of non-CO₂ mitigation technologies. These reports are especially useful for researchers building economic models to analyze climate policies. The models answer the following questions:

• What technologies can reduce non-CO₂ greenhouse gas emissions (from particular sources)?
• How much do those technologies cost above industry standard technologies?
• How much could various countries reduce emissions if they implement these technologies on a wide scale?

Preliminary Draft Global Mitigation of Non-CO₂ Greenhouse Gases Report (March 2012)

EPA has updated its global non-CO₂ mitigation report, last published in 2006. The preliminary draft provides marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves for the landfill, coal mining, nitric and adipic acid, and wastewater sectors. This new analysis incorporates updated mitigation technologies, costs, and emissions baselines with an updated modeling approach. The results of the analysis are MAC curves that reflect aggregated breakeven prices for implementing mitigation options in a given sector and region with more detail than available in the previous report. The MAC curves allow for improved understanding of the mitigation potential for non-CO₂ sources, as well as inclusion of non-CO₂ greenhouse gas mitigation in economic modeling of multigas mitigation strategies.

This report summary and data set is a preliminary draft and will be finalized after a peer review process is completed. EPA is releasing this report summary and data as a draft to allow for review and further development before being finalized. Readers are encouraged to provide EPA with comments on the report summary and data.

Download the preliminary draft marginal abatement cost summaries here:

Coal MAC Summary (March 2012) (PDF, 3 pp, 208 K)
Landfill MAC Summary (March 2012) (PDF, 3 pp, 296 K)
Nitric and Adipic Acid MAC Summary (March 2012) (PDF, 3 pp, 195 K)
Wastewater MAC Summary (March 2012) (PDF, 3 pp, 225 K)

Download the data annex (WinZip format containing Excel Spreadsheet files, 337K)

Global Mitigation of Non-CO₂ Greenhouse Gases (EPA Report 430-R-06-005)

Since non-CO₂ greenhouse gases can be relatively inexpensive to reduce compared to CO₂, EPA has focused on incorporating international non-CO₂ greenhouse gas mitigation into analysis and policy discussions. EPA prepared a global cost analysis of all non-CO₂ greenhouse gases. The basic methodology - a bottom-up, engineering cost approach - is the same as was followed in the Energy Modeling Forum report described below, unless otherwise noted. The results of this analysis are marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves that reflect aggregated breakeven prices for implementing mitigation options in a given sector and region. The MAC curves allows for improved understanding of the mitigation potential for non-CO₂ sources, as well as inclusion of non-CO₂ greenhouse gas mitigation in economic modeling of multigas mitigation strategies. The MAC data sets can be downloaded in spreadsheet format using the “Data Annexes” link below. The final report based on this analysis can also be downloaded using the links below.

Full Color Version of the Eeport:
Global Mitigation of Non-CO₂ Greenhouse Gases (PDF) (438 pp, 5.8MB)

Individual Sections of the Report:
Cover & Table of Contents  (PDF, 28 pp, 720K)
Executive Summary  (PDF, 6 pp, 153K)
Section I: Technical Summary (PDF, 30 pp, 311K)
Section II: Energy (PDF, 46 pp, 450K)
Section III: Waste (PDF, 28 pp, 290K)
Section IV: Industrial Processes  (PDF, 222 pp, 3.6MB)
Section V: Agriculture  (PDF, 78 pp, 840K)

Appendices: 
Appendices  (PDF, 132 pp, 4.1MB)
Guide to Appendices (PDF, 1 p, 14K)

Data Annex:
Data Annexes (WinZip format containing Excel Spreadsheet files, 5.4MB)
Guide to Data Annex ) (PDF, 1 p, 13K)

Report to Energy Modeling Forum

The first EPA non-CO₂ mitigation cost study was a global analysis of methane and nitrous oxide abatement. The work was conducted as part of a larger study conducted by the Stanford Energy Modeling Forum on Multi-gas Mitigation and Climate Change:

International Analysis of Methane and Nitrous Oxide Abatement Opportunities: Report to Energy Modeling Forum, Working Group 21 (PDF, 9 pp, 76K)