Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States

Abstract

This paper presents a summary and discussion of seven national greenhouse gas inventory assessments, including completed draft inventories from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Kazakstan, and preliminary inventories from Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, and non-methane volatile organic compounds from various sources in each country are compared and examined in the context of demographic and economic characteristics. Fossil fuel consumption is by far the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions for all seven countries, while the land-use change and forestry sector is a significant carbon sink in all seven countries. The major sources of methane emissions are the energy sector (that is, coal mining and oil and gas systems), livestock management, and waste management. On a per capita and per unit gross domestic product basis, national emissions display a great deal of variability among the seven countries. This appears to be driven in part by different levels of industrialization. Two countries, Bulgaria and Hungary, have compiled emission estimates for both 1990 and earlier years. Emissions in both countries decreased in the late 1980s, primarily due to economic decline. Comparison of the national inventory estimates to other published estimates in international emissions databases showed close agreement for carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption, and substantial differences for non-carbon dioxide emissions from non-energy sources.