Comprehensive National Accounting for CO2 Emissions

Geir Asheim and Rintaro Yamaguchi

Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2026, vol. 13, issue 3, 609 - 648

Abstract: We use the vulnerability approach to integrate CO2 emissions in comprehensive national accounts to indicate whether countries’ development is sustainable. Our sustainability indicator accounts for future mitigation costs and future climate damage of expected changes in national and global emissions, in addition to the value of current changes in capital stocks and the national social cost of carbon (NSCC) of current global emissions. We apply our theoretical results to recent data using the greenhouse gas impact value estimator (GIVE) under the RFF socioeconomic projections. We show that the NSCC of current global emissions is important almost everywhere, although its effect on sustainability is partly offset by future damage decrease under decarbonization prospects. Our indicator is negative for some developing countries where the adjustment for current and future CO2 emissions exceeds the value of net investments in other assets. The responsibility and vulnerability approaches produce divergent empirical assessments of sustainability.

Date: 2026
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