2023-05-04T13:11:58.897442

2025-05-21T19:51:47.857060

30

30 m

Global

Annual

global

Harris et al. (2021). Global maps of 21st century forest carbon fluxes. Accessed on [date] from Global Forest Watch.

Forest greenhouse gas emissions

(2001-2024, 30m, Harris et al. 2021, Gibbs et al. 2025)

Harris, N.L., D.A. Gibbs, A. Baccini, R.A. Birdsey, S. de Bruin, M. Farina, L. Fatoyinbo, M.C. Hansen, M. Herold, R.A. Houghton, P.V. Potapov, D. Requena Suarez, R.M. Roman-Cuesta, S.S. Saatchi, C.M. Slay, S.A. Turubanova, A. Tyukavina. 2021. Global maps of twenty-first century forest carbon fluxes. Nature Climate Change. [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00976-6](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00976-6)<br><br>Gibbs, D. A., Rose, M., Grassi, G., Melo, J., Rossi, S., Heinrich, V., & Harris, N. L. 2025. Revised and updated geospatial monitoring of 21st century forest carbon fluxes. Earth System Science Data. [https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1217-2025](https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1217-2025)

[CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

English

This emissions layer is part of the forest carbon flux model described in [Harris et al. (2021)](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00976-6). This paper introduces a geospatial monitoring framework for estimating global forest carbon fluxes which can assist a variety of actors and organizations with tracking greenhouse gas fluxes from forests and in decreasing emissions or increasing removals by forests. Forest carbon emissions represent the greenhouse gas emissions arising from stand-replacing forest disturbances that occurred in each modeled year (megagrams CO2e emissions/ha, between 2001 and 2024). Emissions include all relevant ecosystem carbon pools (aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, dead wood, litter, soil organic carbon) and greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O). Emissions estimates for each pixel are calculated following IPCC Guidelines for [national greenhouse gas inventories](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/2019-refinement-to-the-2006-ipcc-guidelines-for-national-greenhouse-gas-inventories/) where stand-replacing disturbance occurred, as mapped in the Global Forest Change annual tree cover loss data of [Hansen et al. (2013)](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1244693). The carbon emitted from each pixel is based on carbon densities in 2000, with adjustment for carbon accumulated between 2000 and the year of disturbance.<br><br>Emissions reflect a gross estimate, i.e., carbon removals from subsequent regrowth are not included. Instead, gross carbon removals resulting from subsequent regrowth after clearing are accounted for in the companion [forest carbon removals layer](https://data.globalforestwatch.org/datasets/forest-carbon-removals). The fraction of carbon emitted from each pixel upon disturbance (emission factor) is affected by several factors, including the direct driver of disturbance, whether fire was observed in the year of or preceding the observed disturbance event, whether the disturbance occurred on peat, and more. All emissions are assumed to occur in the year of disturbance. Emissions can be assigned to a specific year using the Hansen tree cover loss data; separate rasters for emissions for each year are not available from GFW. All input layers were resampled to a common resolution of 0.00025 × 0.00025 degrees each to match Hansen et al. (2013).<br><br>We have made several updates to the model since its [original release](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00976-6). For documentation through the current version, please refer to [this blog](https://www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/data-and-tools/whats-new-carbon-flux-monitoring/). For a more detailed description of the changes included through the 2023 tree cover loss launch (released spring 2024) and a comparison of the model's fluxes with those from the Global Carbon Budget and national greenhouse gas inventories, please refer to [Gibbs et al. (2025)](https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1217-2025).<br><br>Three variations of emissions rasters are available for download:<br>   1) megagrams CO2e emissions/ha in pixels with >30% tree cover density (TCD) in 2000 or tree cover gain: Used for visualizing (mapping) emissions according to the default GFW TCD threshold because it represents the density of emissions per hectare. You would use this if you want to only include emissions in pixels that are more conservatively defined as forest.<br>   2) megagrams CO2e emissions/pixel in pixels with >30% TCD in 2000 or tree cover gain: Used for calculating the emissions in an area of interest (AOI) according to the default GFW TCD threshold because the values of the pixels in the AOI can be summed to obtain the total emissions for that area. You would use this if you want to only include emissions in pixels that are more conservatively defined as forest.<br>   3) megagrams CO2e emissions/pixel in pixels with any amount of tree cover in 2000 or tree cover gain: Used for calculating the emissions in an area of interest (AOI) without any TCD threshold because the values of the pixels in the AOI can be summed to obtain the total emissions for that area. This would represent the total emissions from tree cover loss in the AOI without applying a TCD threshold. You would use this if you want to include emissions in pixels that have low (<30%) TCD in 2000.<br>The values in the megagrams CO2e/pixel layers were calculated by adjusting the emissions per hectare by the size of each pixel, which varies by latitude. Tree cover density in 2000 is according to Hansen et al. (2013) and tree cover gain between 2000 to 2020 is according to [Potapov et al. (2022)](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsen.2022.856903/full).<br><br>Download data from [here](https://data.globalforestwatch.org/datasets/forest-greenhouse-gas-emissions).

Displays forest greenhouse gas emissions from stand-replacing disturbances

- Data are the product of modeling and thus have an inherent degree of error and uncertainty. Users are strongly encouraged to read and fully comprehend the metadata and other available documentation prior to data use. - Values are applicable to forest areas only (canopy cover >30 percent and >5 m height or areas with tree cover gain). See [Harris et al. (2021)](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00976-6) for further information on the forest definition used in the analysis. - Although emissions in each pixel are associated with a specific year of disturbance, emissions over an area of interest reflect the total over the model period of 2001-2024. Thus, values must be divided by 24 to calculate average annual emissions. - Emissions reflect stand-replacing disturbances as observed in Landsat satellite imagery and do not include emissions from unobserved forest degradation. - Emissions reflect a gross estimate, i.e., carbon removals from any regrowth that occurs after disturbance are not included. Instead, gross carbon removals are accounted for in the companion forest carbon removals layer. - Emissions data contain temporal inconsistencies. Improvements in the detection of tree cover loss due to the incorporation of new satellite data and methodology changes between 2011 and 2015 may result in higher estimates of emissions in recent years compared to earlier years. Refer [here](https://www.globalforestwatch.org/blog/data/20-years-global-tree-cover-loss-data-trends/) for additional information. - Forest carbon emissions do not reflect carbon transfers from ecosystem carbon pools to the harvested wood products (HWP) pool. - This dataset has been updated since its original publication. See Overview for more information.

Forest Change

https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/17/1217/2025/

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