CO2 Emissions from Nonenergy Use: Methodological Aspects and a Case Study for Germany

Many materials and products are made from fossil materials. The production and the use of these products will result in CO2 emissions during production and after use when the product is discarded. The IPCC has developed guidelines to estimate the CO2 emissions from this so-called non-energy use. It was found that the definition of non-energy use in statistics varies by country. The aggregated IPCC approach for Germany, Italy and The Netherlands, showed that the error in the estimate for Italy is 30% too high. To improve the analysis, the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany and LBNL developed a method to assess fossil carbon flows and losses in detail. We have used this method to assess CO2 emissions from non-energy use in Germany, and found that the direct emissions are equivalent to about 10% of the carbon used for non-energy use. The IPCC default method proved to provide a correct answer for Germany. The analysis stresses the large contribution of non-energy use to CO2 emissions, and needs to be considered in the design of climate change mitigation policies.