Thread by @eilperin

1/ Our analysis of nearly 200 country UN reports finds a major gap b/w what greenhouse gas emissions countries say they emit & what they're putting into the atmosphere. W/ @chriscmooney @JohnMuyskens @desmondbutler @anu_narayan @NaemaAhmed washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro… #COP26Glasgow

2/ The gap we identified ranges from at least 8.5 billion tons of CO2 equivalent to as high as 13.3 billion tons/year of underreported emissions — big enough to move the needle on global warming. It has huge implications for #COP26Glasgow since pledges often rest on this data.

3/ At the low end, the gap @washingtonpost found is larger than the yearly emissions of the United States. At the high end, it approaches the emissions of China and comprises 23 percent of humanity’s total contribution to the planet’s warming.

4/ Enormous work went into identifying this emissions gap. We built our own database, after entering countries' data by hand. Since many nations don't file annually, @anu_narayan @JohnMuyskens w/ @MeghanHoyer projected what nations would report 2019, the last year for reporting.

5/ We got data entry help from Nick Trombola @taylormtelford and Caroline Cliona, @brady_dennis contributed reporting, @garlandpotts designed this piece and @stasiasayshey copy edited it.

6/ And of course, this would not be a @washingtonpost climate story without the dynamic editing trio of @TrishWbelli @monicaulmanu and @olivierclaurent -- under the guidance of @stevenjay @Krissah30 @cameronbarr @SallyBuzbee (Olivier did 2 jobs - photo and operations manager).

7/ And @Revkin read our methodology to get a sense of the sort of peer review we did to make sure we got the science right. We are so grateful to the 10 scientists who engaged in endless Zoom calls, email exchanges and interviews to hone our data analysis: washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro…

8/ Thank you, Anita Ganesan, Rob Jackson, Julia Pongratz, Clemens Schwingshackl, Leehi Yona, Steven Smith, Philippe Ciais, Glen Peters, Robbie Andrew Francesco Tubiello for sharing your expertise on issues large and small, from the Monte Carlo method to flourinated gases.

9/ We also people across the globe willing to share their stories at personal risk, including indigenous rights activists and those working on politically-sensitive issues in the world of climate negotiations. We could not have done this piece without their help.

10/ After working on this piece for months, I am struck by the power -- and importance -- of accurate data when it comes to #climate and #COP26 And the fact that so many of our colleagues were willing to work tirelessly on this helped bring this to light.