IPCC - IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Emission factors from the IPCC Emission Factor Database (EFDB), the default and country-submitted values behind national greenhouse gas inventories, together with the IPCC AR6 table of global warming potentials.

IntergovernmentalSpecialistRestricted licence
Factors
1,881
Values
2,383

One per year and method

Countries
8

9 regions, sub-national included

Edition
export-2026-07-30 + ar6-wg1-2021

published 30 Jul 2026 · all versions

Last loaded
7 Sept 2026

Report a newer version

Overview

The Emission Factor Database is maintained by the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. It gathers the default values of the 1996 Guidelines, the 2006 Guidelines and the 2019 Refinement, beside values submitted by countries and researchers, each filed under an IPCC inventory category.

Most of its rows are not emission factors but inventory parameters: carbon contents, wood densities, nitrogen excretion rates, calorific values. We load only the rows that are an emission of one greenhouse gas per unit of activity.

At a glance

Publisher
IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Kind
Intergovernmental
Scope
Specialist
Home region
World
Edition
export-2026-07-30 + ar6-wg1-2021
Licence
Restricted licence (ipcc-copyright-notice)

What open-climate.ai standardised

over the publisher's own fileHow we standardise
5 more things standardised

Audit checks

87 passed5 known limitations3 enforced when loadedlast run 25 Sept 2026

Checks we run on every load to keep the data above trustworthy. Counts are for this library; the grey figure is the same check across all libraries. Point at the i to see why a check matters.

What the statuses meanHow checks are countedWhy we checkHow checks are grouped

Needs attention

  • Each biofuel follows one convention for biogenic CO2

    Known limitation · 4 in this library · 12 in all libraries

  • CO2e totals agree with their gases

    Known limitation · 1,331 in this library · 3,229 in all libraries

  • No default value is withheld for poor quality

    Known limitation · 33 in this library

  • Translations match the current source text

    Known limitation · 348 in this library · 286,941 in all libraries

  • No duplicate factors are served

    Known limitation · 160 in this library · 302 in all libraries

One category axis

Learn more
  • Every source category maps to our vocabulary

    Enforced when loaded

  • The publisher's classification is kept

    Passed

  • Every classification level has a valid parent

    Passed

  • Every product code comes with the codes above it

    Passed

  • A publisher's own classification is used only by that publisher

    Passed

  • A standard classification code has one label in every library

    Passed

Coded regions

Learn more
  • Every region is a known code

    Enforced when loaded

  • No named region is filed under a broader one

    Passed

  • Every region sits in the world hierarchy

    Passed

Canonical units

Learn more
  • Every unit is a known code

    Enforced when loaded

  • One source unit maps to one unit

    Passed

  • A unit label means the same in every library

    Passed

  • A unit label that names no basis folds one way

    Passed · 1 in all libraries

Declared boundaries

Learn more
  • Every boundary states what it includes

    Passed

  • Boundary scope terms are known codes

    Passed

  • No two factors for the same activity partly overlap in scope

    Passed

  • Separate stages of one activity are linked as parts

    Passed

  • Every part of a factor states its boundary

    Passed

  • Each biofuel follows one convention for biogenic CO2

    Known limitation · 4 in this library · 12 in all libraries

  • No recycling credit is hidden inside a life-cycle total

    Passed

Warming potentials

Learn more
  • Methane and nitrous oxide figures match the stated GWP

    Passed

  • Every convertible value has its AR6 version

    Passed

  • CO2e totals agree with their gases

    Known limitation · 1,331 in this library · 3,229 in all libraries

  • Fossil-only values list the gases that back the label

    Passed · 19,942 in all libraries

  • Standardised figures keep every gas the publisher lists

    Passed

  • Every value states what its CO2e total includes

    Passed

  • A library with no AR6 version at all has a recorded reason

    Passed

Data quality

Learn more
  • Quality ratings fall inside their scale

    Passed

  • Every zero value is explained

    Passed

  • No default value is withheld for poor quality

    Known limitation · 33 in this library

  • No implausibly high per-kilogram value is rated reliable

    Passed

  • Every quality level gives a recognised reason

    Passed

  • A zero that is only a gap in the source is withheld

    Passed

  • The library is not rated entirely on one fallback quality level

    Passed

Languages

Learn more
  • Every factor has an English name

    Passed

  • Translations match the current source text

    Known limitation · 348 in this library · 286,941 in all libraries

  • Every served factor has a name

    Passed

  • Factors are searched on their English name where one exists

    Passed · 7 in all libraries

  • Every language with a main name also has a full name

    Passed

  • Full names are built from their parts in the same language

    Passed

  • Every text is labelled with its real language

    Passed

  • Every description is available for display and translation

    Passed

  • Every usage note is available for display and translation

    Passed

Traceable to the source

Learn more
  • Values traced to one source row agree with each other

    Passed

  • No duplicate factors are served

    Known limitation · 160 in this library · 302 in all libraries

  • No factor value claims two things that cannot both be true

    Passed · 5,836 in all libraries

  • No factor value the publisher has withdrawn is still served

    Passed · 556 in all libraries

Other checks

  • An activity's grouping key names only the activity

    Passed · 6 in all libraries

  • A Creative Commons credit names its licence

    Passed

  • No note of ours appears in the credit or licence notice

    Passed

  • The credit line carries no terms of use

    Passed

  • Every part links to a valid parent

    Passed

  • Every impact assessment method is a recognised code

    Passed

  • Summed totals keep their parts' classification

    Passed

  • Every summed total has a classification when its parts do

    Passed

  • Green-electricity zeros are not rated below market-based peers

    Passed

  • An avoided credit is linked to the burden it belongs to

    Passed

  • Every value is typed as specific, generic or average

    Passed

  • The market-based value is the default

    Passed

  • Summed totals equal their parts on every gas

    Passed

  • Validity dates are the publisher's own, never guessed

    Passed

  • Quality breakdowns use their scheme's axes

    Passed

  • No battery-electric vehicle carries tailpipe emissions

    Passed

  • The text of each estimated factor matches its current figures

    Passed

  • A total built on an estimated part is marked as estimated

    Passed

  • Every estimate is built only from data we may redistribute

    Passed

  • No estimated factor is rated above the data it was built from

    Passed

  • No estimate is served where the publisher printed the figure

    Passed

  • Every estimated factor still matches the inputs it was computed from

    Passed

  • Every factor with a current value has a default

    Passed

  • Every factor has a value, in a library that publishes values

    Passed

  • Every fixed group of regions lists what it covers

    Passed

  • Where both exist, the residual mix is shown before the green-tariff zero

    Passed

  • Every green-electricity zero is a market-based value

    Passed

  • Every electricity factor states its mix

    Passed

  • The newest edition of each value is the one marked current

    Passed

  • Factor descriptions describe the factor, not the whole library

    Passed

  • Every library's licence has its rights recorded

    Passed

  • Every green-electricity zero is exactly zero and says why

    Passed

  • Green-electricity zeros cover power generation only

    Passed

  • Only a total we computed may mix GWP vintages

    Passed

  • Spend factors state their price year and basis

    Passed

  • One default value per factor and year

    Passed

  • Every value has a number, a GWP version and a reference year

    Passed

  • No factor description is too long to display in full

    Passed · 4 in all libraries

  • Every excused arithmetic disagreement is stated

    Passed

  • Every reference year falls between 1960 and next year

    Passed

  • The parts of a total are never listed twice under one label

    Passed

  • Every residual mix has its green-tariff counterpart

    Passed

  • Every factor points to its top parent

    Passed

  • Every publisher's quality rating system is read

    Passed

  • A supplier named in the source is linked to the factor

    Passed

  • No factor is an unlinked part of another factor

    Passed

  • A part covering the same scope as its total is linked to it

    Passed

  • A year in a factor's name matches its reference year

    Passed

How the audit works

What can I do with this data?

Restricted licence · credit the publisher

ar6

Restricted licence · ipcc-copyright-notice
Use it to calculate my own footprint
Yes, if
  • you credit the publisher
Publish my footprint results
Yes, if
  • you credit the publisher
Share the file with my customers
Ask IPCC Secretariat
Put the factors in a product I sell
Ask IPCC Secretariat
Modify it or combine it with my own data
Ask IPCC Secretariat

Publisher's published terms, checked on 31 Jul 2026

"You may freely download and copy the material contained on this website for your personal, non-commercial use, without any right to resell or redistribute it or to compile or create derivative works there from."

Credit line

Data: Forster, P., T. Storelvmo, K. Armour, W. Collins, J.-L. Dufresne, D. Frame, D.J. Lunt, T. Mauritsen, M.D. Palmer, M. Watanabe, M. Wild and H. Zhang, 2021: The Earth's Energy Budget, Climate Feedbacks and Climate Sensitivity. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, doi:10.1017/9781009157896.009. Normalised by open-climate.ai, https://open-climate.ai/factors/libraries/ipcc (CC BY 4.0)

Not legal advice: the publisher's terms prevail.

Full terms

efdb

Restricted licence · ipcc-copyright-notice
Use it to calculate my own footprint
Yes, if
  • you credit the publisher
Publish my footprint results
Yes, if
  • you credit the publisher
Share the file with my customers
Ask IPCC Secretariat
Put the factors in a product I sell
Ask IPCC Secretariat
Modify it or combine it with my own data
Ask IPCC Secretariat

Publisher's published terms, checked on 31 Jul 2026

"You may freely download and copy the material contained on this website for your personal, non-commercial use, without any right to resell or redistribute it or to compile or create derivative works there from."

Credit line

Data: IPCC Emission Factor Database (EFDB), Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Normalised by open-climate.ai, https://open-climate.ai/factors/libraries/ipcc (CC BY 4.0)

Not legal advice: the publisher's terms prevail.

Full terms

How to read these answers

Coverage

Browse factors

top 0 matches

SavedUnfoldActivitySub-categoryRegionBoundaryUnitGWP

Checked for updates 18 Sept 2026: the result needs a human read, which is under way (2 signals watched)

VersionPublishedLoadedStatusSource
export-2026-07-30efdb30 Jul 20267 Sept 2026ServedSource
ar6-wg1-2021ar69 Aug 20217 Sept 2026ServedSource

Methodology

How this works
  • Every EFDB value is the mass of a single gas. The CO2e figure is ours: we compute it with IPCC AR6 100-year potentials, and it is labelled as computed, not published.
  • EFDB never says whether methane is fossil or biogenic, so methane is weighted at the fossil value of 29.8 throughout. On biogenic methane this overstates CO2e by up to 10.4 %.
  • The gas is named in the activity, so a fuel's CH4 and N2O factors can be told apart.
  • Energy factors are on a net calorific value basis, the convention the 2006 Guidelines fix.
  • EFDB carries no year. The reference year is the Guidelines vintage of the row: 1996, 2006 or 2019.
  • Boundaries: rows under energy combustion are combustion, rows under fugitive emissions are fugitive, and every other category is left unknown rather than guessed.
  • CO2 from biomass fuels is a memo item outside national totals in IPCC accounting, so those rows are skipped. Agriculture, forestry and land use rows are net totals.
  • Most rows name no place, which is what a default means: they are served as global. Climate zones and development groups are kept as applicability text, not as geography.
  • The AR6 layer reproduces AR6 Working Group I, Chapter 7, Table 7.15 and Table 7.SM.7: the 20-, 100- and 500-year potential of each species.

Guidelines vintage: the IPCC guidelines edition the parameter is published under (1996 / 2006 / 2013 / 2019) — neither a publication nor a data year.

What we import

  • The full EFDB export of 2026-07-30: 27,566 rows. EFDB publishes no version, so the export date names the release.
  • 1,663 factors: rows whose unit is a mass of one Kyoto gas and whose value is a single number. By Guidelines vintage, 492 values are from 1996, 1,102 from 2006 and 36 from the 2019 Refinement.
  • 33 of them are published as zero. They are kept and flagged problematic, so they never zero out a match.
  • Each factor is classified by its IPCC 1996 and 2006 categories. Of the 1,914 factors across both layers, 22 are placed in a country.
  • About 94 % of the export's rows are not loaded: inventory parameters, non-greenhouse gases (NH3, CO, NOx, NMVOC, SO2), multi-gas aggregates, ranges and blanks, rows with no Guidelines vintage, rows per head of livestock or per landing and take-off cycle, 18 halocarbon rows with no per-species potential in our table, and biomass CO2 memo items.
  • The AR6 table: 251 species, each with three horizons.
  • French names are machine translated.

Restricted. EFDB carries no licence of its own, so the site-wide IPCC copyright policy applies. It allows free download and copying "for your personal, non-commercial use, without any right to resell or redistribute it or to compile or create derivative works there from". Redistribution needs written permission from the IPCC.

open-climate.ai lists these factors with their metadata; the values are withheld until the publisher agrees to their publication. The credit line is: "IPCC Emission Factor Database (EFDB), Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change."

What can I do with this data?

Credit line: Forster, P., T. Storelvmo, K. Armour, W. Collins, J.-L. Dufresne, D. Frame, D.J. Lunt, T. Mauritsen, M.D. Palmer, M. Watanabe, M. Wild and H. Zhang, 2021: The Earth's Energy Budget, Climate Feedbacks and Climate Sensitivity. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, doi:10.1017/9781009157896.009.

ipcc-copyright-notice

Limitations

  • These are national-scale defaults. The IPCC itself disclaims their use below national level, so treat them as a last resort for company reporting.
  • 344 country-submitted energy rows do not state their calorific basis. We assume net, as the Guidelines require; a gross basis would shift coal and oil by about 5 % and gas by about 10 %.
  • CO2e is constructed, never published, and methane uses the fossil potential everywhere.
  • Factors per head of livestock, per landing and take-off cycle or per kg of volatile solids are not loaded yet.
  • EFDB has no versions, so a revised value cannot be dated.

Changelog

  • 2026-09-08: the AR6 potentials served alongside the EFDB factors.
  • 2026-09-07: factors for the Republic of Korea and the United States placed in their countries.
  • 2026-08-26: AR6 Working Group I table of global warming potentials loaded.
  • 2026-08-18: 33 published zeros flagged problematic; fugitive rows filed under "Fugitive emissions and refrigerants".
  • 2026-08-05: EFDB export of 2026-07-30 loaded.

Know a newer edition?

If IPCC has published an edition we do not serve yet, tell us where to find it.