Developing consumption-based emissions indicators from Agriculture, Forestry and Land-use (AFOLU) activities

Understanding consumption-based emissions from Agriculture, Forestry and Land-use (AFOLU) activities is important in developing climate policy for the sector. This paper proposes a new methodology to construct indicators – CBAFOLU indicators ‒ to provide estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions arising from AFOLU activities (including fisheries) in the global supply chain of finished products. The CBAFOLU indicators identify the countries where emissions are generated and the countries where the goods that “embody” these emissions are eventually consumed. CBAFOLU indicators are provided for bilateral flows of emissions for 65 countries over 2005-15. The indicators also break down emissions by types of GHG: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and CO2 emissions from land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF). Given their preliminary nature, the CBAFOLU indicators should be seen as a first building block in a series of steps to explore the allocation of AFOLU activities across countries through the lens of sustainability; priorities for further work to refine the indicators are also proposed.