The LULUCF Data Hub: translating global land use emissions estimates into the national GHG inventory framework (Version 4.1.0, 2026 NGHGI release)

This repository includes the data displayed in the LULUCF Data Hub, an online platform hosted by the EU Forest Observatory. It compiles various datasets of country-level CO₂ and non-CO₂ emissions and removals from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF). The LULUCF Data Hub is described by Melo et al. (ESSD Discussion).

The NGHGI LULUCF database is compiled and maintained by the European Commission (EC) Joint Research Centre (JRC) and was first described by Grassi et al. 2022. It includes CO₂ and non-CO₂ fluxes from LULUCF sourced from the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (NGHGIs) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), using methodologies established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). CO₂ and non-CO₂ fluxes reported by countries in IPCC categories and sub-categories are allocated to the classes Forest (excl. organic soils, excl. HWP), Deforestation (conversion of forest land to other land uses), Other non-forest land uses, Organic soils, and Harvested wood products (HWP) (see Box 1).

In the LULUCF Data Hub, and through a multi-disciplinary collaboration, we show results from global key initiatives estimating anthropogenic land use GHG fluxes translated to conceptually align with NGHGI and IPCC Guidelines definitions. In version 4.1.0 we present CO₂ data from carbon cycle modelling (Global Carbon Budget, GCB 2026; Friedlingstein et al., ESSD Discussion), CO₂ and non-CO₂ data from Global Nature Watch (formerly Global Forest Watch, GNW 2026; update of Gibbs et al., 2025), and CO₂ data from EDGAR LULUCF (Rossi et al., ESSD Discussion).

Data is available in Mt CO₂ yr⁻¹ and, where available, Mt CO₂e yr⁻¹. Net CO₂ fluxes include emissions by sources and removals by sinks; non-CO₂ emissions, where available, are reported separately. Countries are identified by their ISO3 code. In addition, the timeseries files also include aggregated estimates for World (WRD) and the European Union (EU27).

Version 4.1.0 (NGHGI 2026 release)

Contents

1. Files made available in version 4.1.0
2. New in version 4.1.0
3. NGHGI database 4.1.0
4. Independent datasets translated to NGHGI/IPCC Guidelines definitions 4.1.0
5. Versioning and citation policy

1) Files made available in version 4.1.0

2) New in version 4.1.0

• Extended time series (1990-2025)

The NGHGI and GCB time series now cover the period 1990 (previously 2000) to 2025: timeseries_NGHGI_gap-filled_4.1.0.csv and timeseries_NGHGI_not-gap-filled_4.1.0.csv for NGHGI; timeseries_GCB_original_4.1.0.csv and timeseries_GCB_translated_4.1.0.csv for GCB.

• Non-CO₂ fluxes

The NGHGI and GNW datasets now also report non-CO₂ fluxes alongside CO₂: NGHGI identifies these via the new Gas column (CO₂, CO₂e, non-CO₂), and GNW adds them for the Forest and Deforestation classes only.

timeseries_NGHGI_gap-filled_4.1.0.csv and timeseries_NGHGI_not-gap-filled_4.1.0.csv for NGHGI; timeseries_GNW_original_4.1.0.csv and timeseries_GNW_translated_4.1.0.csv for GNW.

• Split of the Forest class

Where available, the Forest class is further split into FOREST_REMAINING (forest land remaining forest land) and LAND_TO_FOREST (land converted to forest land), reported alongside FOREST (FOREST = FOREST_REMAINING + LAND_TO_FOREST where both are available; left blank where a country reports FOREST only — see Box 1): timeseries_NGHGI_gap-filled_4.1.0.csv and timeseries_NGHGI_not-gap-filled_4.1.0.csv.

• GCB model spread

The new file timeseries_GCB_spread_4.1.0.csv reports the Global Carbon Budget (GCB) 2026 CO₂ estimates across the underlying bookkeeping models (BLUE, OSCAR, LUCE) and DGVMs (n=24), alongside the ensemble average, min/max and standard deviation already reported in timeseries_GCB_original_4.1.0.csv and timeseries_GCB_translated_4.1.0.csv.

3) NGHGI database 4.1.0

Version 4.1.0 of the LULUCF Data Hub updates the NGHGI LULUCF database with data submitted to the UNFCCC up to August 2026 for the period 1990-2025. We provide data as submitted by countries in their inventories (timeseries_NGHGI_not-gap-filled_4.1.0.csv) and gap-filled without altering the levels and trends of the reported data (timeseries_NGHGI_gap-filled_4.1.0.csv). Gap-filling applies linear interpolation between reported years and flat extrapolation beyond the first or last reported year, independently for each country, category and gas; no values are generated where a country has not reported a given category at all. The completeness of LULUCF reporting in 4.1.0 is 95% (see Table 1 in read me file for data by class and region) and the proportion (%) of reported (not-gap-filled) LULUCF data in the NGHGI database 2000 and 2024 is 61.2% (see Table 2 and Table 3 in read me file for more complete results by decade and classes below) and ranges between 61.4% (Forest) to 83.3% (Organic soils).

Version 4.1.0 of the NGHGI LULUCF database covers all 197 Parties to the UNFCCC, plus the EU27 aggregate. Each country's data is sourced from the most complete and recent submission available:

• GHGI 2026 from Annex I countries: 41 countries
• BTR1, First Biennial Transparency Report: 84 countries
  • CRT extraction: 64 countries;
  • BTR1/NID manual entry, for countries whose CRT is unavailable or in a non-standard format: 20 countries — Andorra (AND), Bangladesh (BGD), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH), Bolivia (BOL), Cambodia (KHM), Central African Republic (CAF), Cote d'Ivoire (CIV), Dominica (DMA), Israel (ISR), Kyrgyzstan (KGZ), Liberia (LBR), Madagascar (MDG), Montenegro (MNE), Nicaragua (NIC), Niger (NER), Pakistan (PAK), Papua New Guinea (PNG), Philippines (PHL), The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (MKD), Tunisia (TUN);
• BTR2, Second Biennial Transparency Report (CRT): 2 countries — Colombia (COL), Kazakhstan (KAZ);
• Pre-Paris reporting (National Communication, Biennial Update Report, REDD+, or NDC): 60 countries
• No LULUCF data available: 10 countries — Egypt (EGY), Kiribati (KIR), Libya (LBY), Maldives (MDV), Marshall Islands (MHL), Nauru (NRU), State of Palestine (PSE), Qatar (QAT), Sierra Leone (SLE), Holy See (VAT).

Information on data sources and discussion on the data by country is available in the file text_box_iso3_4.1.0.csv. See also further information on data sources and completeness of the inventories in terms of classes reported in Table 1 in read me file. Version 4.1.0 flagged 8 countries as reporting implausible sinks in the Forest class (Table 4 in read me file) which Forest sinks summed together amount to -0.92 Gt CO₂ yr⁻¹ on average.

4) Independent datasets translated to NGHGI/IPCC Guidelines definitions 4.1.0

In version 4.1.0, the GCB and GNW (formerly GFW) datasets are updated to GCB 2026 and GNW 2026: timeseries_GCB_original_4.1.0.csv, timeseries_GCB_translated_4.1.0.csv, timeseries_GNW_original_4.1.0.csv and timeseries_GNW_translated_4.1.0.csv replace the corresponding v4.0.0 files with new 2026 data (1990-2025 for GCB; 2001-2025 for GNW, now also including non-CO₂ fluxes for the Forest and Deforestation classes), consistent with the Data Hub's versioning convention that x.1.x releases update all independent datasets. EDGAR LULUCF 2025 is unchanged, duplicated from version 4.0.0/3.1.2.

5) Versioning and citation policy

The LULUCF Data Hub was pre-released during the IPCC Expert Meeting on Reconciling Anthropogenic Land-Use Emissions (IPCC, 2024; Grassi et al., 2025). Version 4.1.0 is a new release and complements earlier versions (3.1.2, 2.1.1, and 1.0.1). Current versions available:

• Version 4.1.0 (current): NGHGI 2026 (updated data: GHGI 2026 Annex I (41), 86 Biennial Transparency Reports (84 BTR1, 2 BTR2), and 60 pre-Paris reporting submissions; time series extended to 1990-2025 with non-CO₂ fluxes and the Forest-class split into Forest land remaining forest land / Land converted to forest land where available; cut-off date August 2026), GCB 2026, GNW (formerly GFW) 2026.
• Version 3.1.2: NGHGI 2025 (Version 2.1.1 complemented by Annex I 2025 GHG reporting, updated October 2025), GCB 2025, GFW 2025, EDGAR LULUCF 2025.
• Version 2.1.1: NGHGI 2024 (Paris GHG reporting, updated October 2025, complemented by pre-Paris GHG reporting from version 1.0.1), GCB 2024, GFW 2024.
• Version 1.0.1: NGHGI 2023 (pre-Paris GHG reporting, updated August 2024), GCB 2024, GFW 2024.

Citation policy: Users should cite the dataset version they use (this dataset) for the NGHGI file. For the GCB-derived files, please cite Friedlingstein et al. (ESSD Discussion), and for the GNW-derived files, please cite Gibbs et al. (2025). EDGAR LULUCF data (Rossi et al., ESSD Discussion) are available in their dedicated repository (Rossi et al., 2026). When referring to the dataset as a whole, the Zenodo version DOI or concept DOI should be used. For methodological details and context on the LULUCF Data Hub, please cite the associated data description paper: Melo et al. (ESSD Discussion).

For questions, please email joana.brandao-de-melo@ec.europa.eu or giacomo.grassi@ec.europa.eu