Experimental Estimates of Integral Anthropogenic CO 2 Emissions in the City of St. Petersburg

The increase in the content of greenhouse gases (CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O, etc.) in the Earth’s atmosphere is changing the radiation balance and leading to changes in the planet’s climate. An important role in this process is played by anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from metropolises, of which the contribution is approximately 70% of all anthropogenic emissions. In this work, anthropogenic CO 2 emissions of the St. Petersburg metropolitan area are determined based on the data of the EMME 2019 experimental program. A new technique for solving the inverse problem was used that is based on a priori data and the application of correction factors only in the city areas covered by observations. The new estimates of integral anthropogenic CO 2 emissions in St. Petersburg are in the range of 52–72 Mt CO 2 /year, significantly exceeding the inventory estimates (~30 Mt CO 2 /year). However, the minimum value of the range (52 Mt CO 2 /year) is about 21% less than our previously obtained 2019 EMME data emissions (65 Mt CO 2 /year).