Monitoring greenhouse gases (GHGs) in China: status and perspective

Abstract

In order to establish a creditable greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring network to support the goals of carbon peak/neutrality, it is necessary to know what we have done and what we have to do in the future. In this study, we summarize an overview of the status and perspective of GHG monitoring in China. With decades of effort, China has made a great breakthrough in GHG monitoring capacity and steadily improved the performance of homemade GHG monitoring instruments. However, most GHG monitoring studies have been research-oriented, temporal, sparse, and uncoordinated. It is suggested to take full advantage of various monitoring technologies, monitoring platforms, numerical simulations, and inventory compilation techniques to form a creditable GHG stereoscopic monitoring and assessment system at an operational level. We envisage that this system can routinely quantify GHGs on national, provincial, regional, and even individual scales with high spatiotemporal resolution and wide coverage to support low-carbon policy in China.