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• Inclusion of forestry and land use. The Inventory tracks national greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use and land use change and sequestration of carbon dioxide in forests and other managed lands. As displayed in the 2009 2014 Inventory, this sector absorbed 1,015 a net 762 million metric tons of CO₂. The GHGRP data does not include data related to emissions or absorption of GHGs on forests and other lands.

• The timeframe of emissions data. The GHGRP began in 2010 and will collect data annually going forward. Facilities are not required to estimate emissions for years prior to 2010. The current U.S. GHG Inventory presents national estimates starting in 1990 and for each subsequent year through 20092014. The next U.S. GHG Inventory, covering 2010 2015 data, will be released for public review in February 2012 2017 and finalized in April 20122017.

• The procedures for calculating emissions. Both the U.S. GHG Inventory and the GHG Reporting Program use methodologies that are consistent with the internationally agreed upon procedures developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For the GHG Reporting Program, facilities collect detailed information specific to their operations (e.g., natural gas used by a plant) according to detailed measurement standards, whereas the data collected for the U.S. GHG Inventory are at a more aggregated level (e.g., natural gas used by the country).

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