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  • News article
  • 10 May 2021
  • 2 min read

The new Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) website is online.

Visual EDGAR database process
© EU, 2020 / EU, 2020

EDGAR contains data of all greenhouse gases and air pollutants emissions generated by human activities on earth. The new website offers scientists, policy makers and citizens the opportunity to explore in detail the emissions across nations and economic sectors. In addition, the EDGAR-FOOD database, containing data specifically referring to the food production and consumption chain has been included.

EDGAR covers almost 50 years of emissions, all countries in the world, making available data starting from 1970 up to 2019, with an update regarding 2020 coming soon.

The website provides direct and user-friendly access to information on all greenhouse gases and the main air pollutants both in the form of high-resolution global maps and in tabular format per nation and activity sectors.

Thanks to the improved access and the new intuitive interfaces, users will be able to look at data of their interest, including a predefined set of indicators such as emissions per capita or per unit of GDP. They can also extract a wide range of insights, using interactive and engaging methods, such as data storytelling.

What’s in it for me?

Policy makers will have readily accessible and readable information of national and subnational total emissions, time series and trends of greenhouse gases and air pollutants with emission sector disaggregation, cross-comparability and consistency across all countries. In order to monitor the progress towards the achievement of climate and air quality goals at the global level, they can easily visualise GHG and air pollutant emission trends as well as investigate country-by-country figures. Thanks to the maps provided, they can also have an immediate view of the emission “hot spots” in order to focus mitigation efforts.
Policy makers from countries not advanced in assessing their emissions could profit of EDGAR for getting a reliable and scientifically robust assessment of the emissions in their country.

Scientists will enjoy transparent and documented datasets of spatially and temporally distributed emissions, disaggregated by sector and species and national and sub-national budgets.

Journalists and media operators will find reference updated global and local figures on emissions ready to provide quantitative information on climate and air quality related information.

Citizens will find an easy access to comprehensive, trusted and independent sources of information of complex topics related to climate and air quality, which will support them to make informed decisions on lifestyle.

Background

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) runs the online Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) since more than 10 years. The current development of EDGAR is a joint project of the JRC and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and is based on the latest scientific information and data from international statistics. This database allows to model emissions for all countries of the world in a comparable and consistent manner. The estimates provided by EDGAR follow the IPCC guidelines and comply with all UNFCCC standards for emission sources. Estimated emissions are available both as national totals and gridmaps at 0.1 x 0.1 degree resolution at global level, with yearly, monthly and up to hourly data.

Related Content

EDGAR database
EDGAR infographic
EDGAR-FOOD infographic

Details

Publication date
10 May 2021