Comparative Analysis of Three Approaches for Developing Inventory of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Case Study for Beijing

With the rapid increase in automobile ownership, road transportation has become a major source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in China. An accurate CO2 emission inventory of on-road vehicles is a critical element in helping develop effective CO2 emission control strategies. However, a widely accepted approach for developing a transportation CO2 emission inventory in China is lacking. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of three approaches for developing a CO2 emission inventory: on the basis of vehicle data, on the basis of fuel sales data, and on the basis of traffic data. The local data in Beijing were collected and applied to different approaches in the case study. The comparative analysis and the uncertainty analysis indicate that the CO2 emission inventory by the approach based on vehicle data is overestimated because of overestimation of the distance vehicles traveled. The approach based on fuel sales data may predict CO2 emissions accurately, but the approach does not support a finer analysis for different vehicle types, road types, and subareas. The approach based on traffic data is suitable for developing a CO2 emission inventory in Beijing, which provides a reasonable estimate of total CO2 emissions and flexibility for finer analysis.