GCAM v7 Documentation: Outputs from Emissions Modeling

Documentation for GCAM
The Global Change Analysis Model

View the Project on GitHub JGCRI/gcam-doc


Outputs from Emissions Modeling

Description of Outputs

Name Resolution Unit Query XML Tag
Emissions (CO2) Technology, Region3, and Year MtC/year emissions
Emissions (non-CO2)1,2 Technology, Region3, and Year Various4 emissions
Resource production emissions (CO2) Subresource, Region, and Year MtC/year emissions
Resource production emissions (non-CO2) Subresource, Region, and Year MtC/year emissions
Land use change emissions By GLU and land type MtC / year land-use-change-emission
Change in above ground carbon By GLU and land type MtC / year   above-land-use-change-emission
Change in below ground carbon By GLU and land type MtC / year   below-land-use-change-emission
CO2 Sequestration6 Technology, Region3, and Year MtC / year emissions-sequestered


Outputs are specified in the startVisitGHG5 and startVisitCarbonCalc methods of xml_db_outputter.cpp.

Note that the query “CO2 emissions by region” represents gross CO2 emissions for a region and is equal to the sum of all emissions from “CO2 emissions by tech (excluding resource production)” and all emissions from “CO2 emissions by resource production”. A region’s net CO2 emissions can be calculated by adding “CO2 emissions by region” and “LUC emissions by region”.

1: A full list of gases included in GCAM is provided on the emissions page.
2: There is a long list of standard queries that report emissions outputs. The "nonCO2 emissions by tech (excluding resource production)" and "CO2 emissions by tech (excluding resource production)" queries listed above will report all emissions except for land use change CO2 and emissions from resource production at the technology level. The other queries filter or aggregate those outputs. For example, the "CO2 emissions by region" query aggregates emissions to the region level for fossil fuel and industrial CO2 only.
3: Emissions are reported at the regional resolution of the sector. See Regional Resolution
4: Units vary. Fluorinated gas emissions are reported in Gg of the specific gas per year. All other emissions are reported in Tg of the specific gas per year (e.g., CH4 emissions are reported in TgCH4 / yr).
5: While the method is called startVisitGHG, it includes non-GHG emissions. However, land use change CO2 emissions are not included in this method.
6: There are two emissions sequestration queries. The "CO2 sequestration by tech" query listed above will return CO2 sequestration by technology, while "CO2 sequestration by sector" aggregates this to the sector level.