Accounting carbon emissions from electricity generation: A review and comparison of emission factor-based methods

Marina Bertolini, Pierdomenico Duttilo and Francesco Lisi

Applied Energy, 2025, vol. 392, issue C, No S0306261925007226

Abstract: Accurate estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is essential to meet carbon neutrality targets, particularly through the calculation of direct CO2 emissions from electricity generation. This work reviews and compares emission factor-based methods for accounting direct carbon emissions from electricity generation. The emission factor approach is commonly worldwide used. Empirical comparisons are based on emission factors computed using data from the Italian electricity market. The analyses reveal significant differences in the CO2 estimates according to different methods. This, in turn, highlights the need to select an appropriate method for reliable emissions, which could support effective regulatory compliance and informed policy-making. As concerns, in particular, the Italian zonal CO2 emissions analysis underscores the importance of using country-specific emission factors.

Keywords: Carbon emission; Electricity generation; Direct carbon emission; Emission factor-based methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261925007226
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:392:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925007226

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125992

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().