The consolidated European synthesis of CO2 emissions and removals for the European Union and United Kingdom: 1990–2018

Reliable quantification of the sources and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), including that of their trends and uncertainties, is essential to monitoring the progress in mitigating anthropogenic emissions under the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. This study provides a consolidated synthesis of estimates for all anthropogenic and natural sources and sinks of CO2 for the European Union and UK (EU27CUK), derived from a combination of state-of-the-art bottom-up (BU) and top-down (TD) data sources and models. Given the wide scope of the work and the variety of datasets involved, this study focuses on identifying essential questions which need to be answered to properly understand the differences between various datasets, in particular with regards to the less-well-characterized fluxes from managed ecosystems. The work integrates recent emission inventory data, process-based ecosystem model results, data-driven sector model results and inverse modeling estimates over the period 1990–2018. In comparing NGHGIs with other approaches, a key source of uncertainty is that related to different system boundaries and emission categories (CO2 fossil) and the use of different land use definitions for reporting emissions from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities (CO2 land).

PETRESCU Roxana;  MCGRATH Matthew J.;  ANDREW Robbie;  PEYLIN P;  PETERS Glen P.;  CIAIS Philippe;  BROQUET Gregoire;  TUBIELLO Francesco;  GERBIG Christoph;  PONGRATZ Julia;  JANSSENS-MAENHOUT Greet;  GRASSI Giacomo;  NABUURS Gert-Jan;  REGNIER Pierre;  LAUERWALD Ronny;  KUHNERT M;  BALKOVIČ Juraj;  SCHELHAAS M. J.;  DENIER VAN DER GON Hugo;  SOLAZZO Efisio;  QIU Chunjing;  PILLI Roberto;  KONOVALOV Igor B.;  HOUGHTON Richard A.;  GÜNTHER Dirk;  PERUGINI Lucia;  CRIPPA Monica;  GANZENMÜLLER Raphael;  VAN DER LAAN-LUIJKX Ingrid T.;  SMITH Pete;  MUNASSAR Saqu;  THOMPSON Rona;  CONCHEDDA Giulia;  MONTEIL Guillaume;  SCHOLZE Marko;  KARSTENS U.;  BROCKMANN Patrick;  DOLMAN A. Johannes; 

2021-12-17

COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH

JRC127582

1866-3508 (online),   

https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/13/2363/2021/,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC127582,   

10.5194/essd-13-2363-2021 (online),