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Minas Releases Its Own Greenhouse Gas Inventory

By Keith R | November 30, 2008

Topics: Climate Change | No Comments »

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Earlier this year the Brazilian state of MInas Gerais (MG) released an inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2005. I found this inventory interesting and this you might too. MG has a more diverse economy than most Brazilian states, being a leader in agriculture, mining and industry, all with different impacts on GHG emissions. I’m adding this to the Temas listing of GHG inventories in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

To better understand the report, keep in mind that MG utilizes the four category structure recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): energy; industrial processes and product use; agriculture, forestry and other land use; and wastes.

The principal findings:

Total GHG emissions in Minas Gerais in 2005 were 122.95 million metric tons (mT) carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent (CO2e).;
CO2 was the GHG most emitted, being responsible for 60.6% of total emissions, followed by methane at 28% and nitrous oxide at 10.8%;
The largest portions of net CO2 emissions came from the energy (57.2%) and agriculture, forestry and land use (33.9%) categories;
Within the energy category, industry accounted for 48.2%, transport 37.9% and residential use 6.8% of GHG emissions. The steel industry accounted for 72.7% of the energy use emissions of industry, cement 5.9% and mining 4.2%;
As for the GHG emission breakdown by energy source within the Energy sector, the largest chunk involves diesel at 30.3%, coking coal at 24.5%, gasoline at 9.9% and GLP at 5.7%;
Within the Industrial Processes and Product Use category, the cement and lime industries were the principal GHG emitters, with participation of 43.9% and 38.2%, respectively, followed by aluminum at 13%;
In the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses category the conversion of forests to other uses was responsible for the largest share of CO2 emissions, 96.3%, including the removal of CO2 by the regeneration of abandoned areas and changing the carbon stocks in the soils;
The the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses category emitted 53.221 million mT CO2e, with the leading emission being methane (CH4) at 42.4%, followed by CO2 at 39.9% and nitrous oxide at 17.7%.
Livestock rearing accounted for 57.1% of the total GHG emissions in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses category, followed by changes in soil use at 38.4%.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses category is responsible for 77.8% of the total CH4 emissions, principally due to enteric fermentation of ruminant livestock, especially cattle, which contributed 97.2%;
Emissions from the Waste category accounted for 17.6% of total emissions of CH4, with urban solid waste (RSU) disposal being responsible for 49.3% of the category’s CH4 total;
Within the Waste category, 40.9% of total GHG emissions resulted from RSU management, 24.1% from industrial wastes, 23.6% from household and commercial sewage, and 11.4% from industrial effluent.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions occur, predominantely, in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses category (84.3%), primarily from animal wastes in pastures and, on a smaller scale, through the application of fertilzers in agricultural lands;
The participation of renewable energy in the energy matrix of Minas Gerais was high due to electricity generation from hydroelectric plants and from sugarcane bagasse, through the use of ethanol in automotive transport and through the use of charcoal in industry;
CO2 emissions from burning renewable biomass for energy purposes were 53.57 million mT. This value was not computed in the total emissions of the state as the CO2 emitted was absorbed during the growth cycle of plants. Its use avoided emissions that would have occured in burning fossil fuels;
The state’s per capita emissions, considering a population of 19.3 million people in 2005, were 6.4 t CO2e per inhabitant;
The economic weight of GHG emissions, calculated by dividing their respective value by the gross internal product (PIB) of the state in 2005, shows that service activities emitted 250 kg CO2e per R$1,000 produced, industry emitted 610 kg CO2e per R$1,000 produced and agriculture, including forestry and other land uses, 3,550 kg CO2e per R$1.000 produced. Considering the entire MG economy in 2005, for every R$1,000 produced 640 kg CO2e were emitted.