Share of greenhouse gas emissions of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2005

Millions of metric tons of CO2 equivalent 100%

5 000 4 000 3 000

1 000 2 000

0 Brazil and the Caribbean Latin America Mexico

Includes land use change Excludes land use change

100% 52%

34%

22%

13%

9%

8% 10% Venezuela Argentina

6%

2%

4% Bolivia Colombia

6%

3% 3% Peru Rest of the region

3% 14%

11%

Source: ECLAC on the basis of Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) Version 7.0. (Washington, DC: World Resources Institute, 2010). Figure 3.4

The disaggregation of emissions by type of gas makes clear the importance of CO2

, both globally

and at the regional level. On a country basis, the United States and China are the highest emitters. Brazil ranks fifth-highest in the world in terms of GHG emissions, including those associated with land use changes (figure 3.3).

Analysis within the region makes it possible to identify the main emitting countries. Chief among these is Brazil, accounting for 52%, which together with Mexico, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Argentina accounted for 79% of the total GHG emissions of the region in 2005. While specific percentages (excluding emissions associated with land use changes) vary, these four countries continue to be the region’s biggest emitters: in 2005, they accounted, as a group, for 75% of the region’s GHG emissions (figure 3.4). Particularly noteworthy is Brazil’s share of regional and global GHG emissions resulting from land use changes. That sector, alone, emitted more than one billion of metric tons of CO2 (MtCO2

equivalent -e) in the Brazilian Amazon in 2005 (figure 3.5). 24

In 2005, per capita emissions in the region, excluding emissions associated with land use changes, amounted to 5.5 MtCO2

-e, with

Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela having the highest levels of per capita emissions (figure 3.6).

Emissions of the Brazilian Amazon Millions of metric tons of CO2e

1 200 1 500

300 600 900

0 1990 1994 Emission from soils 2000

Fossil fuels and industry Forest and grassland conversion

Source: Cerri C. et al, Brazilian GHG emissions: the importance of agriculture and livestock, Scientia Agricola, 2009.

Figure 3.5 2005