State GHG Emissions and Removals

EPA has released its first annual publication of state greenhouse gas (GHG) data consistent with the national Inventory, meaning state GHG totals when summed, will equal national totals in the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks. (EPA recognizes that a number of states have compiled or are developing their own state-level GHG inventories on a regular or periodic basis. Find official state inventories here.)

Consistency with the national Inventory also means that state-level estimates adhere to international standards (i.e., consistent with UNFCCC transparency system reporting guidelines), are based on the same methodologies in the national Inventory, cover the same time series as the latest published national Inventory, and cover the same anthropogenic sources and sinks and all seven greenhouse gases.  Explore and download the state estimates and learn more about the methods used to disaggregate the national inventory in the full peer-reviewed EPA methodology report (zip). This complementary data will be published annually after the national Inventory report.

The Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks by State should not be viewed as official state data. The EPA recognizes that there will be differences between the EPA's state-level estimates and some inventory estimates developed independently by individual state governments. Inventories compiled by states may differ for several reasons and differences do not necessarily mean that one set of estimates is more accurate, or "correct." In some cases, the EPA may be using different methodologies, activity data, and emission factors, or may have access to the latest facility-level information through the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). In other cases, because of state laws and regulations, states may have adopted accounting decisions that differ from those adopted by UNFCCC and IPCC to ensure comparability in national reporting (e.g., use of different category definitions and emission scopes consistent with state laws and regulations). Differences in accounting decisions do not necessarily indicate that one of the estimates is more accurate, or “correct”. Users of state GHG data should take care to review and understand differences in accounting approaches to ensure that any comparisons of estimates are equivalent or an apples-to-apples comparison of estimates. Inventories compiled for specific purposes (i.e., state laws) can produce different but complementary results. Learn more about potential reasons EPA's estimates may differ from official state estimates (pdf).

In developing this information EPA implemented a peer review of the report and data, along with a technical review by state experts. Summary reports of the feedback and EPA's responses to the feedback from these reviews are available in the key links box.