Greenhouse gas emissions - Cities and FUAs

This dataset provides statistics on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) and Cities.

Data sources and methodology

GHG are estimated by sector of origin at the subnational level are estimated using the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) (Joint Research Centre). See the methodology.

Defining FUAs and cities

The OECD, in cooperation with the EU, has developed a harmonised definition of functional urban areas (FUAs) to capture the economic and functional reach of cities based on daily commuting patterns (OECD, 2012). FUAs consist of:

1. A city – defined by urban centres in the degree of urbanisation, adapted to the closest local administrative units to define a city.


2. A commuting zone – including all local areas where at least 15% of employed residents work in the city.

The delineation process includes:

• Assigning municipalities surrounded by a single FUA to that FUA.


• Excluding non-contiguous municipalities.

The definition identifies 1 285 FUAs and 1 402 cities in all OECD member countries except Costa Rica and three accession countries.

Cite this dataset

OECD Regions, cities and local areas database (Greenhouse gas emissions - Cities and FUAs), http://oe.cd/geostats

Further information

• OECD Local Data Portal


• OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance

For questions and/or comments, please email [email protected]