The content of this page explains how emissions from individual facilities are aggregated to totals by industry type in our data set. In most cases, this is a straight forward exercise but in the case of facilities who report GHG emissions from several distinct processes this can be complicated. To view what industry groups facility's are placed in, visit Understanding Facility Types.

Most reporters covered by the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program solely report direct emissions occurring at the facility. These entities are the ones most prominently displayed on ghgdata.epa.gov in the direct emitters portion of the tool. Other facilities solely report GHG quantities associated with products supplied (e.g. certain fossil fuels and industrial gases). Data reported by these entities is included in a separate portion of ghgdata.epa.gov because the GHG quantities reported by these entities do not take place at the facility, but take place at the location where the product is combusted, oxidized or used. There is a relatively small number of entities who report BOTH direct GHG emissions and GHG data associated with products supplied. It is important to note that direct GHG emissions reported by facilities and GHG quantities associated with products supplied are never aggregated to a facility total in this data set. All data shown in the direct emitters portion of the tool is direct GHG emissions only.

The following explains how direct GHG emissions reported by facilities are aggregated to the totals for each industry grouping displayed on ghgdata.epa.gov. In the simplest case, where facilities report emissions from only one process, the total emissions reported by that facility are included in the appropriate industry groups total emissions. This is often the case for landfills, and for some facility's who only report emissions from the combustion fossil fuels. For facilities that only reported GHG emissions from fossil fuel combustion in 2010, the emissions are included in the total for their industry group as defined . The Government and Commercial and Other Industrial industry groups are solely made up of facilities who reported emissions from stationary combustion only (note that some stationary combustion only facilities are included in other industry groups as well).

Most facilities covered by the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program reported emissions in 2010 from stationary combustion of fossil fuels as well as some other type of process occurring at the facility (such as petroleum refining, iron and steel production, cement production, etc.). GHG emissions from these other other process are generally referred to as 'process' emissions. The total emissions for each industry type presented in our data set include both process emissions and emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. For example, the total emissions displayed for the iron and steel industry includes both emissions from fossil fuels combusted at those facilities as well as process emissions inherent to the production of iron and steel.

In some cases, a facility may report emissions from two separate and unique processes, but no emissions from stationary combustion. For example, a facility may be both a power plant and an iron and steel mill, in which case it reports the emissions from electricity generation separate fro the emissions from iron and steel production. In these cases, EPA includes the emissions associated with electricity generation in the electricity generation industry's total, and the emissions from iron and steel production in the total for that industry.The facility is hence classified as both types, but its emissions are distributed to the two industry groups as appropriate.

Things begin to become complex in the case of facilities that report emissions from stationary combustion as well as 2 or more other processes. Facilities report their total GHG emissions from stationary combustion, but do not report the quantity of emissions associated with unique processes at the facility. For example, a refinery who also produces petrochemicals would report the total process emissions from petroleum refining, the total process emissions from petrochemical production and the total emissions from stationary combustion, but does not report the quantity of combustion emissions associated with the facility's refining operations and petrochemical operations separately.As such, EPA is unable to determine the portion of the facility's reported emissions from stationary combustion that should be included in each industry group's total. In these cases, EPA attributes 100% of the reported stationary combustion emissions to the industry type considered to be most fossil fuel intensive. The table below shows the hierarchy of industry types considered. In the case where a facility reports emissions from 2 or more of the process listed below, the emissions from stationary combustion are attributed to the highest ranking process on this list.