A Geographic Approach to Sectoral Carbon Inventory: Examining the Balance Between Consumption-Based Emissions and Land-Use Carbon Sequestration in Florida

Carbon accounting is an important analytical task that provides baseline information to assist in establishing emissions targets, developing market-based carbon trading programs, and facilitating sustainable carbon management at the regional to international scales. Although a substantial amount of research has focused on carbon emissions inventory, limited studies have been conducted to estimate consumption-based emissions and their spatial distribution in relation to vegetation carbon sinks. In this article, we develop a new approach to model the spatially detailed consumption-based carbon emissions from the household energy and transportation sectors. Emissions were in turn integrated with vegetation carbon sequestration rates that were modeled through biophysical remote sensing techniques. This enables carbon balance analysis at detailed geographic locations. To illustrate our approach for carbon balance analysis, we present a case study in Florida. Results indicate that, in 2001, Florida was able to self-assimilate residential carbon emissions from energy and transportation fuel consumption. Estimates indicate that net carbon sources (i.e., household emissions exceeding vegetation carbon assimilation) are associated with urban and suburban densities and net sinks with exurban and rural densities. In sum, the research approach can be extended to household energy consumption and carbon assessment for other geographies at alternative scales.