The energy and waste sectors were responsible for the emission of 16.43 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents in São Paulo last year, according to a study commissioned by the city’s department of the environment. The two sectors together account for 95 percent of emissions in the city, Brazil’s largest and most populous.

Last year’s total emissions of CO2 equivalents (a combination of emissions of carbon, methane, nitrous oxide and other greenhouse gases) surpassed the 16.087 billion tons produced in 2010 and the 15.11 billion tons in 2003, when emissions were first measured.

“The increase in emissions was small compared to 2010. This is mainly the result of the replacement of gasoline with ethanol. Motor vehicles are the primary source of emissions. This change contributes to lower figures,” Vinicius Ambrogi, the technical manager of Geoklock, one of the firms that conducted the study, told Tierramérica.