Space-based quantification of per capita CO2 emissions from cities
Urban areas are currently responsible for ∼70% of the global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) emissions, and rapid ongoing global urbanization is increasing the number and size of cities. Thus, understanding city-scale CO _2 emissions and how they vary between cities with different urban densi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab68eb |
| _version_ | 1827870177866285056 |
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| author | Dien Wu John C Lin Tomohiro Oda Eric A Kort |
| author_facet | Dien Wu John C Lin Tomohiro Oda Eric A Kort |
| author_sort | Dien Wu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Urban areas are currently responsible for ∼70% of the global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) emissions, and rapid ongoing global urbanization is increasing the number and size of cities. Thus, understanding city-scale CO _2 emissions and how they vary between cities with different urban densities is a critical task. While the relationship between CO _2 emissions and population density has been explored widely in prior studies, their conclusions were sensitive to inconsistent definitions of urban boundaries and the reliance upon CO _2 emission inventories that implicitly assumed population relationships. Here we provide the first independent estimates of direct per capita CO _2 emissions ( E _pc ) from spaceborne atmospheric CO _2 measurements from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) for a total 20 cities across multiple continents. The analysis accounts for the influence of meteorology on the satellite observations with an atmospheric model. The resultant upwind source region sampled by the satellite serves as an objective urban extent for aggregating emissions and population densities. Thus, we are able to detect emission ‘hotspots’ on a per capita basis from a few cities, subject to sampling restrictions from OCO-2. Our results suggest that E _pc declines as population densities increase, albeit the decrease in E _pc is partially limited by the positive correlation between E _pc and per capita gross domestic product. As additional CO _2 -observing satellites are launched in the coming years, our space-based approach to understanding CO _2 emissions from cities has significant potential in tracking and evaluating the future trajectory of urban growth and informing the effects of carbon reduction plans. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:53:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c3058c3e99124742b881dd4dea3994ea |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:53:11Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-c3058c3e99124742b881dd4dea3994ea2023-08-09T15:03:48ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262020-01-0115303500410.1088/1748-9326/ab68ebSpace-based quantification of per capita CO2 emissions from citiesDien Wu0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2915-5335John C Lin1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2794-184XTomohiro Oda2Eric A Kort3Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah , Salt Lake City, United States of AmericaDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah , Salt Lake City, United States of AmericaGoddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research, Universities Space Research Association , Columbia, MD, United States of America; Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States of AmericaClimate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, United States of AmericaUrban areas are currently responsible for ∼70% of the global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) emissions, and rapid ongoing global urbanization is increasing the number and size of cities. Thus, understanding city-scale CO _2 emissions and how they vary between cities with different urban densities is a critical task. While the relationship between CO _2 emissions and population density has been explored widely in prior studies, their conclusions were sensitive to inconsistent definitions of urban boundaries and the reliance upon CO _2 emission inventories that implicitly assumed population relationships. Here we provide the first independent estimates of direct per capita CO _2 emissions ( E _pc ) from spaceborne atmospheric CO _2 measurements from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) for a total 20 cities across multiple continents. The analysis accounts for the influence of meteorology on the satellite observations with an atmospheric model. The resultant upwind source region sampled by the satellite serves as an objective urban extent for aggregating emissions and population densities. Thus, we are able to detect emission ‘hotspots’ on a per capita basis from a few cities, subject to sampling restrictions from OCO-2. Our results suggest that E _pc declines as population densities increase, albeit the decrease in E _pc is partially limited by the positive correlation between E _pc and per capita gross domestic product. As additional CO _2 -observing satellites are launched in the coming years, our space-based approach to understanding CO _2 emissions from cities has significant potential in tracking and evaluating the future trajectory of urban growth and informing the effects of carbon reduction plans.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab68ebper capita CO2 emissionsurban scalingpopulation densityspace-based estimates |
| spellingShingle | Dien Wu John C Lin Tomohiro Oda Eric A Kort Space-based quantification of per capita CO2 emissions from cities Environmental Research Letters per capita CO2 emissions urban scaling population density space-based estimates |
| title | Space-based quantification of per capita CO2 emissions from cities |
| title_full | Space-based quantification of per capita CO2 emissions from cities |
| title_fullStr | Space-based quantification of per capita CO2 emissions from cities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Space-based quantification of per capita CO2 emissions from cities |
| title_short | Space-based quantification of per capita CO2 emissions from cities |
| title_sort | space based quantification of per capita co2 emissions from cities |
| topic | per capita CO2 emissions urban scaling population density space-based estimates |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab68eb |
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