International Non-CO2 Mitigation

Non-carbon dioxide (CO₂) greenhouse gases, such as methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated greenhouse gases, are significant contributors to climate change. In some cases, reducing non-CO₂ emissions can have a more rapid effect on the climate and be more cost-effective than reducing CO₂ emissions. To ensure that economists are able to incorporate non-CO₂ mitigation technologies within their economic models, EPA has analyzed the costs of a wide range of mitigation technologies and incorporated them into an economic tool called a marginal abatement cost (MAC) curve which summarizes the cost and emissions reductions of a wide range of technologies.
The reports below summarize the costs of non-CO₂ mitigation technologies. These reports are especially useful for researchers building economic models to analyze climate policies. The models answer the following questions:

• What technologies can reduce non-CO₂ greenhouse gas emissions (from particular sources)?
• How much do those technologies cost above industry standard technologies?
• How much could various countries reduce emissions if they implement these technologies on a wide scale?

Preliminary Draft Global Mitigation of Non-CO₂ Greenhouse Gases Report (March 2012)

EPA has updated its global non-CO₂ mitigation report, last published in 2006. The preliminary draft provides marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves for the landfill, coal mining, nitric and adipic acid, and wastewater sectors. This new analysis incorporates updated mitigation technologies, costs, and emissions baselines with an updated modeling approach. The results of the analysis are MAC curves that reflect aggregated breakeven prices for implementing mitigation options in a given sector and region with more detail than available in the previous report. The MAC curves allow for improved understanding of the mitigation potential for non-CO₂ sources, as well as inclusion of non-CO₂ greenhouse gas mitigation in economic modeling of multigas mitigation strategies.
This report summary and data set is a preliminary draft and will be finalized after a peer review process is completed. EPA is releasing this report summary and data as a draft to allow for review and further development before being finalized. Readers are encouraged to provide EPA with comments on the report summary and data.