Assessing Greenhouse Gas Emissions at City and Regional Levels: Challenges and Methods

Quantifying greenhouse gas emissions at various spatial scales, from hotspots in urban areas to expansive regional zones, is an integral task in mitigating climate change and tailoring appropriate strategies. Current research has predominantly focused on localized measurements, leaving a significant void in city and regional-scale analysis due to restricted access to comprehensive observations and methodologies. Bridging this gap requires advancements in data collection techniques and innovative approaches to provide a holistic understanding of emissions on a macro scale. Recent studies marked progress in atmospheric inversion techniques and eddy covariance systems, emphasizing the need for further investigation into driving factors influencing emissions, especially in densely populated urban settings and resource-diverse regions.

This Research Topic aims to investigate advanced methodologies for better quantifying greenhouse gas emissions across different spatial scales, with a particular focus on cities and regions. This includes improvements in observational methods, theoretical models, and discoveries concerning the factors controlling greenhouse gas emissions. By exploring the landscape-scale observations and modeling of emissions, researchers can share insights applicable to broader spatial contexts. Furthermore, this Research Topic seeks contributions that explore methodologies related to achieving carbon peak and neutrality goals, comparing strategies across developed and developing countries to identify universal and region-specific challenges.

To gather further insights into this intricate field of study, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
• Various methodologies for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from urban to regional and national scales.
• "Top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches, incorporating atmospheric inversion via ground concentration measurements, remote sensing, isotopic data, and inventories utilizing activity data or micro-meteorological methods such as eddy covariance and flux gradients.
• Analyzing total greenhouse gas emissions and their components in relation to environmental factors.
• Methodologies for attaining carbon peak and neutrality in different regions.
• Case studies and comparative analyses of emission measures and strategic implementations across different geographic and economic backgrounds, including studies focusing on localised emission categories conducted at different landscapes, for providing a wide range of observation and modelling results.
We encourage submissions that employ innovative approaches, present comparative analyses, or propose theoretical advancements that could reshape our understanding of greenhouse gas emissions at broader spatial scales.