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Abstract Agriculture is one of the most important sectors for global anthropogenic methane (CH 4) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions. While much attention has been paid to production-side agricultural non-CO 2 greenhouse gas (ANGHG) emissions, less is known about the emissions from the consumption-based perspective. This paper aims to explore the characteristics of agricultural CH 4 and N 2 O emissions of global major economies by using the latest emission data from the Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database (FAOSTAT) and the recently available global multi-regional input-output model from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD). The results show that in 2014, the 42 major economies together accounted for 60.7% and 65.0% of global total direct and embodied ANGHG emissions, respectively. The consumption-based ANGHG emissions in the US, Japan, and the EU were much higher than their production-based emissions, while the converse was true for Brazil, Australia, and India. The global-average embodied ANGHG emissions per capita was 0.7 t CO 2 -eq, but major developing countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Mexico were all below this average value. We find that the total transfer of embodied ANGHG emissions via international trade was 622.4 Mt CO 2 -eq, 11.9% of the global total. China was the largest exporter of embodied ANGHG emissions, while the US was the largest importer. Most developed economies were net importers of embodied emissions. Mexico-US, China-US, China-EU, China-Japan, China-Russia, Brazil-EU, India-EU and India-US formed the main bilateral trading pairs of embodied emission flows. Examining consumption-based inventories can be useful for understanding the impacts of final demand and international trade on agricultural GHG emissions and identifying appropriate mitigation potentials along global supply chains. Highlights • We explore agricultural CH 4 and N 2 O emission characteristics of 42 major economies. • Impacts of final demand and international trade on ANGHG emissions are evaluated. • 622.4 Mt CO 2 eq CH 4 and N 2 O emissions in 2014 were embodied in international trade. • Developed economies as net importers had high per capita emission requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition towards low-carbon economy requires a number of specific actions by a multiplicity of actors in order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, entailing energy efficiency, production of energy from renewable resources as well as the diffusion of more sustainable production and consumption patterns. Among the actors, local authorities can play a leading role for climate action. However, properly accounting for GHG emissions at local scale and identifying actions for GHG reduction are still an open challenge in many contexts. In this paper, we propose a method for GHG emissions accounting to support the identification of proper actions to achieve GHG reduction targets. The method widens the classical production-based approach to accounting, by proposing an extension of the accounting to three main areas: waste management and recycling, consumption patterns, and local land management. Life cycle thinking is applied as methodological basis for such extension. To illustrate the benefit of the proposed approach, the method has been applied to 16 municipalities (in Northern Italy), which were signatories of the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative. CoM is a European initiative by which local authorities voluntarily commit to reduce their GHG emissions through the implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans. A comparison of the emission profile of the different municipalities helps identifying common patterns and local peculiarities to be addressed to achieve the reduction target. For the analysed case studies, the biggest contribution to GHG emissions comes from the consumption of the natural gas and electricity by the household sector. Emissions from waste generation play a minor role in the selected case studies. However, the inclusion of avoided emissions coming from waste recycling highlights the reduction potential if an appropriate waste management system is in place. Consumption patterns, as well, may play a relevant role. For example, assessing GHG emissions related to food consumption on top of those due to other drivers, the total municipal emissions change by increasing for an average of 22.6% for the selected case studies. Moreover, local land use planning and management should be included in the assessment, being crucial not only for the emissions uptake but also for climate mitigation and adaptation. The proposed approach to GHG accounting, including consumption-based aspects, may help identifying a wider set of climate actions to be implemented by local authorities to reduce environmental burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last two decades, the scientific literature has focused on the allocation of emissions embodied in international trade by implementing accounting procedures based on consumer-oriented perspective. While the Multi Regional Input-Output analysis has been accepted by the scientific community as an alternative to the IPCC accounting, some concerns arise from the feasibility and the actual implementation of this methodology. In this paper, we apply a simplified framework recently introduced by Caro et al. (2014a), called NCI (National Carbon Intensity) method, and estimate the total CO 2 emissions due to consumption in 175 countries during the period 2008–2012, with a focus on the Mediterranean area. We estimate CO 2 emissions embodied in trade, assigning emission responsibility on the basis of each country's demand. Globally in 2012, 8129 Mt CO 2 emissions were related to goods produced in one country and consumed outside its boundaries. A relevant example is the export from China to consumers located in the USA, Japan, and Germany. A focus on the Mediterranean area, that resulted as a net importer of CO 2 embodied in traded goods, identifies the export of emissions from Italy and Spain to France and from Libya and Algeria to Italy as the dominant flows. The NCI method provides a realistic picture of emissions due to consumption that differs from high resolution Multi Regional Input-Output database by less than 10%. The method can be largely adopted as a more feasible preliminary step towards consumption-based emission accounting and responsibility assignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of cities and their stakeholders in creating a sustainable low carbon society is becoming increasingly critical. Cities and their supply chains are responsible for almost 80% of the global energy consumption and over 60% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). It is expected that 70% of the global population will be living in urban areas by 2050. However, in general cities still quantify and report only their production-based GHG emissions and fail to account for their supply chains. There has been much less focus on the GHG emissions associated with consumption in cities, including household and government consumption. This paper compares the production-based GHG accounting method with the consumption-based method for ten European cities. This is performed for a base year (2010) and two divergent future scenarios for 2050, a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and a post carbon (PC 2050) scenario. The PC2050 scenario was created by city stakeholders in the framework of the European research project POCACITO in (2014–2016). Consumption-based emissions are calculated using the EXIOBASE multi-regional input-output model. Compared to 2010, both BAU and PC2050 scenarios show significant decreases for production-based emissions, falling 31% and 68% respectively. However, during this period consumption-based emissions increase for eight cities, rising 33% and 35% respectively. This occurs despite the modelled improvements in global production efficiency for 2050 and the significant production-based reductions under the PC2050 scenarios. The increase in consumption-based emissions is primarily linked to rising GDP and a corresponding increase in spending and consumption, which override the local and global efficiency improvements. Hence the results highlight a notable disparity between the traditional focus on production-based accounting and consumption-based accounting. This suggests that future city actions should extend their focus on addressing the impact of consumption in addition to local energy production and emissions. It also suggests that city stakeholders are generally underestimating the impact of consumption and the responses required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]