This new dataset tracks urban emissions from space

Cities worldwide can now track their carbon and methane emissions from space, thanks to a new dataset from the World Bank that puts high-resolution, real-time urban data at everyone’s fingertips.

Cities produce 70% of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and a significant share of anthropogenic methane (CH₄) emissions. Yet in many urban areas, especially in the Global South, location-specific emissions data has been scarce. This makes it challenging to see where urban emissions are increasing, decreasing, or staying the same.

That’s why the World Bank is releasing a new dataset tracking CO₂ and CH₄ emissions for 6,672 urban areas worldwide. Using post-processed satellite observations from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA), this dataset provides consistent, high-resolution information on both long-term and recent emissions trends. 
 

How the Dataset Works

The dataset draws from two powerful sources: NASA’s OCO-2 satellite for CO₂ and ESA’s Sentinel-5P satellite for CH₄. These satellites provide daily readings fine enough to capture data from major urban areas worldwide.

To ensure fair comparisons across cities and over time, we remove “background” values—baseline levels from large-scale daily medians—so only the variations linked to urban activity remain. We then average these localized values into 5 km grid cells, keeping only the highest-quality readings. In regions with frequent cloud cover, we use adaptive spatial averaging to maintain coverage without losing local detail.

For each 5-km grid cell, we calculate:

• Long-term trends: The monthly change in concentrations since 2014 for CO₂ and since 2018 for CH₄
• Short-term changes: The difference between the past year’s annual average concentrations and earlier values.

These are aggregated into performance scores for each urban area, ranging from –100 (all significant decreases) to +100 (all significant increases). Scores are calculated both unweighted and weighted by actual emissions data from the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR).
 

What the Data Shows

Our global dataset reveals a complex picture:

• Some cities are steadily reducing emissions.
• Others are seeing significant increases.
• Many show mixed results, with CO₂ and CH₄ moving in opposite directions.

As the maps below of 138 large Southeast Asian cities show, even within the same region, emissions patterns can differ sharply—highlighting the need for local monitoring and tailored strategies.

Why This Matters

This is the first time such detailed, comparable emissions data has been available for so many cities worldwide. By making it openly accessible, we aim to equip policymakers, researchers, and the public with a practical tool for tracking progress, identifying problem areas, and designing effective interventions. The same satellite-based approach can be extended to pollutants such as PM₂.₅, NO₂, and ozone—helping cities address both environmental and public health challenges.

Access the full dataset here: Atmospheric Gas Indicators in the Development Data Hub.

Read the detailed methodology in our Policy Research Working Paper: Satellite-Based Measures for Tracking Atmospheric CO₂ and CH₄ at National, Subnational, and Urban Scales.

The authors gratefully acknowledge funding support from the Global Data Facility for this research.